Health care remains under attack 10 years after key UN resolution

Resolution 2286 was adopted by more than 80 UN member states, including the US. MSF pushed for its adoption after a US airstrike killed 42 people in MSF’s trauma hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan in October 2015. The resolution reaffirmed that hospitals are protected under International Humanitarian Law and should not be deliberately attacked, damaged, or prevented from functioning.

"What was once considered exceptional has now become commonplace,” said Dr. Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF International President. “We see a blatant disregard for the protection of the medical mission in countries at war. States that committed to protecting medical care back in 2016 must stop hiding behind excuses and finger-pointing and act.” 

Medical care under threat

In the last decade, 21 MSF staff have been killed in 15 incidents while trying to ensure people everywhere have access to medical care. In 2025 alone, the World Health Organization’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care reported a total of 1,348 attacks on medical facilities, resulting in 1,981 deaths.

MSF has teams working in over 70 countries around the world, including in Palestine, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan, and Myanmar, as well as other areas of conflict and war. Over the last 10 years, attacks on health care have included airstrikes on hospitals in Syria and Yemen, the shelling of hospitals in Ukraine and Palestine, drone strikes on a hospital in Myanmar, and attacks on clearly marked ambulances in Cameroon, Haiti, and Lebanon.

“Medical care in conflict is under extreme threat, as attacks against health care workers and functioning health infrastructure have been seen in almost every conflict over the past decade,” Dr. Abdelmoneim said.

Attacks on health care don’t just kill and injure people and damage the facilities that are directly affected; they deprive people of lifesaving care — permanently or temporarily — as health infrastructure is not rebuilt or humanitarian organizations suspend their activities because of security concerns. When health care infrastructure is attacked, it is the communities that suffer.

These are the types of medical services lost when there are no longer doctors to treat patients or hospitals for them to work in:

• In Sudan, MSF teams carried out nearly 850,000 outpatient consultations, admitted just under 95,600 people to hospitals, and assisted almost 29,000 births in 2025.  
• In Gaza, teams undertook 913,000 outpatient consultations, admitted nearly 54,000 people, and provided 89,800 mental health sessions in 2025.
• In Ukraine, MSF ambulances referred 10,700 patients (60 percent of whom had war-related injuries), carried out 45,300 outpatient consultations through mobile clinics, and provided 9,750 physiotherapy sessions in 2025.

Stronger protection and accountability are needed

States are failing to uphold their commitments and stand by their adoption of Resolution 2286. The response from states perpetrating the attacks has frequently been to deny the attack, to claim it was a mistake, or to claim — without proof — that a facility should no longer qualify for protected status. For attacks that states are not directly responsible for, they do little to hold those responsible accountable. Health workers are also increasingly being treated as suspects rather than protected.

“States must respect their obligations and commitment under Resolution 2286 for greater protection and accountability,” Dr. Abdelmoneim said. “The protection granted to us and to our patients under IHL must be led by action, not just words.”