War in Ukraine: in over fifteen months of conflict there have been more than a thousand attacks on the health system: personnel injured and structures destroyed

ROME – L’World Health Organization (WHO) has recorded 1,004 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine since war broke out with Russia in February 2022, the highest number ever recorded by the same organization in a humanitarian emergency. A dramatic record that highlights the difficulties in which the country’s health system operates and the challenges that doctors and nurses face on a daily basis in guaranteeing both routine and emergency assistance. In fact, the continuous bombings against the structures complicate both the work of the staff and the possibility for citizens to reach the hospitals when they need it. This increases the risk of preventable disease and death.

The number of attacks against healthcare. In total, in the period from 24 February 2022 to 30 May 2023, WHO recorded: 866 attacks on health facilities; 273 to supplies; 121 to transport; 72 against personnel; 27 against patients and 17 against deposits in warehouses. The sum of these data gives a number higher than 1004, which is the official and overall number of attacks against health care, because a single offensive can cause damage on many levels.

The victims of the attacks. The death toll from health care attacks in these 15 months of war is 101 doctors and nurses killed, tens of thousands injured, and the destruction of medical supplies, facilities and transportation, including ambulances. The health care offensive violates international humanitarian law because it deprives people of the care that must be guaranteed even in war and creates far-reaching and long-term consequences.

The effects of the war on health care. Attacks of this kind deprive an entire community of essential health services needed to save lives, and thus cause both an increase in illness and deaths and the deterioration of health systems in the long run. The psychological effect on patients, who are afraid to go out to seek assistance and treatment in conflict zones, and on health professionals, who find it increasingly difficult to provide relief in safe and secure environments, is also significant and has an impact on population health for long periods of time. But healthcare that works – underlines the WHO – is also the center of the collective humanitarian response.

Humanitarian intervention. L’World Health Organization it has responded to needs in the regions most affected by the fighting, which are located in the east and south of the country. According to the resource availability and service delivery monitoring system, health facilities in the most bombed areas, including Kherson, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions, are facing difficulties due to lack of security and structural damage to buildings . However, a large number of hospital sites in these regions continue to function and are accessible, despite the damage. WHO has so far reached nearly nine million people, many of whom live in areas reconquered from Ukraine where the emergency is more severe than elsewhere.

The most compromised services. According to WHO data, the most compromised are specialist medical treatments such as chemotherapy or mammography, since both personnel and medical facilities are lacking. Assisted delivery of difficult pregnancies also hangs in the balance in some areas. Basic health care remains available in the regions most affected by the war, but costs have risen so much in the last six months that surveys conducted by the WHO indicate that almost a third of the population cannot afford it.