Attacks on health care

Data from UN and NGO sources demonstrates that since 2021, attacks against medical and humanitarian action during armed conflict have increased, with numbers reaching new highs every year. While these attacks have taken place in many countries across the world, the majority occurred in Lebanon, Myanmar, Palestine, South Sudan, Sudan, and Ukraine.

Most of the attacks directly impacting MSF since 2016 — 64 percent — took place in Sudan, Palestine, Yemen, Haiti, and South Sudan. All of these are contexts of conflict, where people live with extremely limited access to health care.

Attacks can include airstrikes, shelling, looting, armed incursions, as well as the obstruction of ambulances. Here are some examples of attacks on facilities MSF runs or supports:

Looting

There have been 13 incidents of looting since 2016, including of hospitals and warehouses where MSF stores vital supplies. In some cases, medical supplies and equipment have been stolen, hindering MSF’s ability to provide care.

On March 7, 2026, the MSF team in Akobo, South Sudan, were forced to evacuate the town after Akobo Hospital was looted, as well as our pharmacy. The looting resulted in the loss of all medicines and medical supplies. 

Airstrikes and shelling 

Airstrikes or shelling account for a large portion of the 107 attacks that impacted MSF operations from 2016 to 2026. These attacks have left health facilities severely damaged or destroyed altogether. This can have a devastating impact on communities with few medical facilities — or none at all — by further jeopardizing access to care.

Obstruction of ambulances and convoys

Under international humanitarian law, medical transport must be respected and protected by parties to armed conflict. This includes any vehicle exclusively assigned to transport the sick and wounded. Yet a significant number of attacks have targeted ambulances or convoys, including some that have even resulted in the death of patients. MSF has recorded four incidents over the last decade in which a patient was killed or died because the ambulance was prevented from reaching a hospital or was attacked during transit.

Forced intrusions

In numerous instances, armed individuals have entered health facilities and fired upon or assaulted patients and staff. The frequency of armed intrusions and repeated interference with patients and staff highlights a serious erosion of respect for the protection of health care. The presence of weapons in clinical environments places patients and staff at immediate risk and undermines medical neutrality.

Violence against medical and humanitarian aid doesn’t just put staff and patients at risk. It also has other far-reaching consequences: When health services stop functioning or medical and humanitarian actors withdraw because of attacks, people and communities are deprived of lifesaving medical care. In some communities, there are no alternatives to access care.

In South Sudan, for example, an armed looting of MSF’s hospital in Ulang in 2025 forced MSF to suspend services, leaving the area without a functioning health facility and halting vital efforts to treat cholera patients and control an ongoing outbreak. More than 800 patients living with HIV, tuberculosis, and chronic diseases lost access to their treatment, putting their lives at significant risk. Communities in the region are now left without medical services and exposed to preventable deaths. 

We accept that operating in conflict settings is not without risk. But there are measures we can take to help reduce the risk of being attacked. MSF engages with all parties to conflicts to reaffirm our principles of neutrality and impartiality and to make clear that in every place where we work, our only objective is to provide medical care. We make sure MSF vehicles and facilities are clearly identified, and that groups know who and where we are. 

But it’s not all up to MSF: States must take all the necessary steps to ensure the maximum protection for the wounded and the sick, and for medical and humanitarian personnel.