Attacks on healthcare cripple health systems, disrupt access to care says WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says attacks on healthcare should be regarded as shocks to entire health systems because their consequences can spread beyond the immediate location, disrupting emergency care, referrals, supplies and access to essential services.

Dr Ahmed Zouiten, WHO Representative in Lebanon, made this known on Thursday during a WHO webinar, explaining that attacks could undermine the availability, accessibility, continuity and quality of healthcare while producing wider consequences for patients and communities.

Zouiten said Lebanon had recorded 215 attacks on healthcare since the beginning of 2026, with 135 healthcare workers killed, 416 injured and 14 hospitals significantly affected, including three that were completely damaged and closed.

He said about 40 emergency medical centres had also been affected, while repeated attacks disrupted healthcare personnel, medical supplies, transport and facilities, demonstrating how damage to one part of the system could create pressure elsewhere.

The WHO representative cited an attack on an emergency medical service centre in Lebanon in which six paramedics were injured, five ambulances destroyed and the centre structurally damaged, while its emergency hotline was rendered inoperable.

According to him, patients subsequently waited longer for ambulances, while others could not be properly directed to available healthcare, illustrating how an attack on one emergency service could immediately affect patients who were nowhere near the incident.

Zouiten explained that when hospitals closed, neighbouring facilities could become overloaded, emergency and surgical capacity could decline, medical supplies could become depleted and referral pathways could become increasingly complicated for patients requiring urgent treatment.

He said attacks on ambulances were particularly damaging because the vehicles served as mobile extensions of emergency departments, meaning their disruption could increase the time required to reach care for trauma, stroke, obstetric and cardiac emergencies.

He added that attacks could also disrupt supplies of medicines, blood, oxygen, laboratory materials and equipment, affecting facilities that were not directly attacked and creating system-wide shortages that could continue after the original incident.

Zouiten said the loss of health workers represented another major threat because it removed expertise, leadership and institutional memory, while insecurity could prevent personnel from safely reaching their workplaces and further weaken health-system resilience.

He called for greater attention to health outcomes resulting from attacks, including delayed emergency treatment, longer journeys to healthcare, referral delays, interruptions to chronic treatment and disruptions to vaccination, maternal and child health services.