- The issue of attacks on healthcare during conflict (AHCC) has gained significant international attention in the last decade, leading to the passing in 2016 by the UN Security Council (UNSC) of Resolution 2286 on the protection of healthcare during conflict. In addition, the adoption in 2012 by the World Health Assembly (WHA) of Resolution 65.20 tasked the World Health Organization (WHO) with leading global efforts on documenting AHCC.
- There have been some examples of good practice in documenting AHCC, such as WHO’s Surveillance System for AHCC (SSA). Other examples are context‑specific, such as some of the reporting mechanisms of AHCC in the Syrian conflict. Drawing lessons from these examples is essential to develop AHCC reporting globally.
- WHO’s SSA – launched in December 2017 – represents a promising step towards the systematic and global reporting of AHCC, but requires further development to fulfil its potential in contributing towards the safeguarding of health in conflict settings.
- Syria has witnessed substantial occurrence of AHCC across 10 years of conflict, with 600 facility attacks and 930 health personnel having been killed as of June 2021. The conflict in Syria paved the way to stronger systems to document such attacks, with several efforts having been mounted by local and international NGOs, as well as the Health Cluster and WHO, capitalizing on the availability of local and international health networks, communication tools and technology.
- Drawing lessons from these established reporting mechanisms, and building on WHO’s SSA, will help identify priorities to further develop the mechanisms to be applied at the global level.