Recently I heard the news about hospital attacks. How many hospitals and health care workers are attacked in the world?
There are many kinds of “attack” and “violence”. It includes that health care workers are threatened by a gun or a knife, or verbally abused. Bombing an entire hospital is also one of the attacks.
Seeing the data from WHO which summarises such physical and mental attacks on health care, there were 800 – 1,600 reports for the last three years as the below graph.
However, these reports are limited to 21 countries in the world. Therefore, more attacks on health care happen in the world and the number of attacks should be higher than the one shown in this graph.
I did not know that a lot of hospitals and health care workers are attacked every year.
What kind of impact would be seen when a hospital is bombed?
When a hospital is bombed, patients get harmed, as well as health care workers. For example, in the series of attacks in the Palestinian territories since October 2023, there were more than 600 attacks on health care. Due to those attacks, 619 patients died and 837 people were injured (as of 23 Jan 2024).
In addition, it affects not only human damage but also infrastructure. Medical equipment may be damaged, and the supply chain for medical items such as oxygen and medicines may also be destroyed. The hospital can no longer provide medical services to existing patients as well as new sick and wounded patients.
Once a hospital is destroyed, restoring it is extremely difficult. It affects too many people.
Is there an agreement to protect health care?
International Humanitarian Law is an agreement on the protection of victims in armed conflicts and regulations under conflicts. It also talks about how to treat health facilities, health care workers, and sick and wounded people in the war.
The keywords are “Respect” and “Protection“.
Health facilities →As long as they treat sick and wounded persons and perform humanitarian functions (=not harm the enemy), they are given special protection.
Health care workers→ They should not be attacked (=respect) and should be protected from harm.
Sick and wounded persons→ They should not be attacked (=respect) and should be protected from harm. People can receive medical care without discrimination.
It also mentions that countries in conflict must not unduly interfere with the activities of medical staff.
It is difficult to think of enemies during the war. But the war also has the rules and everyone should respect the rules.
参考文献
-World Health Organization. Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA). https://extranet.who.int/ssa/Index.aspx
– United Nations. Nearly 600 attacks on healthcare in Gaza and West Bank since war began: WHO. 5 January 2024. https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/01/1145317
‐ International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). What is international Humanitarian Law? https://www.icrc.org/en/document/what-international-humanitarian-law
‐ ICRC. 国際人道法のいろは。わかりやすい人道法。https://www.eda.admin.ch/dam/eda/jp/documents/publications/GlossarezurAussenpolitik/ABC-Humanitaeren-Voelkerrechts_jp.pdf
‐ ICRC. Respecting and protecting health care in armed conflicts and in situations not covered by international humanitarian law – Factsheet. 21 May 2021. https://www.icrc.org/en/document/respecting-and-protecting-health-care-armed-conflicts-and-situations-not-covered
‐ 赤十字国際委員会。紛争下の病院の保護について：国際人道法は何て言っているの？ 15 December 2023. https://jp.icrc.org/information/protection-hospitals-during-armed-conflicts-what-law-says/
