Since 7 October 2023, 47% of assaults on well being care – 65 out of 137 – have confirmed deadly to not less than one well being employee or affected person in Lebanon, as of 21 November 2024.
This can be a greater share than in any energetic battle at present throughout the globe – with almost half of all assaults on well being inflicting the loss of life of a well being employee.
Compared, the worldwide common is 13.3%, based mostly on the SSA’s figures from 13 nations or territories that reported assaults in the identical interval, 7 October 2023–18 November 2024 – amongst them Ukraine, Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). Within the case of oPt, 9.6% of the full variety of incidents has resulted within the loss of life of not less than one medical skilled or affected person.
In keeping with the SSA, 226 well being staff and sufferers have been killed in Lebanon and 199 injured between 7 October 2023 and 18 November 2024.
In the identical interval, the SSA registered a mixed whole of 1401 assaults on well being in oPt, Lebanon and Israel – 1196 in oPt, 137 in Lebanon and 68 in Israel.
Civilian well being care has particular safety
These figures reveal but once more a particularly worrying sample. It is unequivocal – depriving civilians of entry to lifesaving care and focusing on well being suppliers is a breach of worldwide humanitarian legislation. The legislation prohibits using well being services for army functions – and even when that’s the case, stringent circumstances to taking motion in opposition to them apply, together with an obligation to warn and to attend after warning.”
Dr. Abdinasir Abubakar, WHO Consultant in Lebanon
Worldwide humanitarian legislation states that well being staff and services ought to at all times be protected in armed conflicts and by no means attacked. Well being services should not be used for army functions, and there needs to be accountability for the misuse of well being services.
“There must be penalties for not abiding by worldwide legislation, and the rules of precaution, distinction and proportionality ought to at all times be adhered to. It has been mentioned earlier than, indiscriminate assaults on well being care are a violation of human rights and worldwide legislation that can’t develop into the brand new regular, not in Gaza, not in Lebanon, nowhere,” mentioned WHO Regional Director for the Jap Mediterranean Dr Hanan Balkhy.
Nearly all of incidents in Lebanon impression well being staff
The bulk (68%) of incidents in Lebanon registered by the SSA impacted well being personnel, a sample seen repeatedly in the previous couple of years, together with in Gaza up to now yr. In Lebanon, roughly 63% affected well being transport and 26% affected well being services.
Assaults on well being care hit twice. First, when well being staff lose their lives or when a well being centre is obliterated, and once more within the following weeks and months when the injured cannot be handled, those that are depending on common care do not obtain it and when kids cannot be immunized.
“Casualty numbers amongst well being staff of this scope would debilitate any nation, not simply Lebanon. However what the numbers alone can’t convey is the long-term impression, the remedies for well being circumstances missed, girls and ladies prevented from accessing maternal, sexual and reproductive well being providers, undiagnosed treatable ailments and, in the end, the lives misplaced due to the absence of well being care. That’s the impression that is laborious to quantify,” mentioned Dr Abubakar.
1 in 10 hospitals in Lebanon instantly impacted
The better the blow to the well being workforce, the weaker the longer-term capacity of a rustic to get well from a disaster and ship well being care in a post-conflict setting
Lebanon is a decrease middle-income nation with a reasonably superior well being system that is been hit laborious by a number of crises lately. After hostilities in Lebanon escalated in September 2024, the rising variety of assaults on well being have prompted additional pressure on an already over-burdened system.
Right this moment, the nation’s well being system is underneath excessive duress, with 15 out of 153 hospitals having ceased to function, or solely partially functioning. Nabatieh, for instance, one in every of Lebanon’s 8 governorates, has misplaced 40% of its hospital mattress capability.
“Assaults on well being care of this scale cripple a well being system when these whose lives depend upon it want it probably the most. Past the lack of life, the loss of life of well being staff is a lack of years of funding and an important useful resource to a fragile nation going ahead,” Dr Balkhy concluded.
To date this yr, between 1 January 2024 and 18 November 2024, a complete of 1246 assaults on well being care have been registered globally, in 13 nations or territories, killing 730 well being staff and sufferers and injuring 1255.
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