Ten years on from historic commitment MSF calls on states to protect healthcare

Ten years ago on 3 May, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2286. Over 80 Member States committed to protect medical and medical humanitarian personnel, infrastructure, transport and equipment. 

Today, Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) calls on states including the UK to respect this commitment, and protect medical care.

MSF has teams working in over 70 countries around the world, including in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Lebanon, Ukraine, Sudan and Myanmar, as well as other areas of conflict and war.

However, in the last decade, 21 MSF staff have been killed in 15 incidents whilst undertaking their duties. In 2025 alone, the World Health Organization’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) reported a total of 1,348 attacks on medical facilities, resulting in the deaths of 1,981 people. 

“What was once considered exceptional is now become commonplace”, said Dr Javid Abdelmoneim, MSF’s International President.

“We see a blatant disregard for the protection of the medical mission in countries at war. States who committed to protecting medical care back in 2016 must stop hiding behind excuses and finger-pointing, and act.”

Over the last 10 years, attacks on healthcare have been various and have included airstrikes on hospitals in Syria and Yemen, the shelling of hospitals in Ukraine and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, drone strikes on a hospital in Myanmar, and attacks on clearly marked ambulances in Cameroon, Haiti and Lebanon.

The response from perpetrating states has often been denial, to claim a mistake, or accusations of loss of protection without proof. Health workers are also increasingly being treated as suspect rather than protected.  

When medical care is attacked, healthcare collapses

The immediate consequence of attacks is injuries and loss of life. Longer-term, the consequence is that communities are often deprived of life-saving care as health infrastructure is not rebuilt or humanitarian organisations suspend their activities because of security concerns.

In 2025, MSF teams in Sudan carried out nearly 850,000 outpatient consultations, admitted just under 95,600 people to hospital and assisted almost 29,000 births.

In Gaza, over the same period, teams undertook 913,000 outpatient consultations, admitted just under 54,000 people and ran 89,800 mental health sessions.

In Ukraine in 2025, MSF ambulances referred 10,700 patients, 60 percent of whom had war-related injuries, and teams provided 45,300 outpatient consultations via mobile clinic, and undertook 9,750 physiotherapy sessions.

When healthcare infrastructure is damaged or destroyed, and if people are too scared to leave their homes to seek medical care, the communities suffer.

MSF UK’s Executive Director, Dr Natalie Roberts said:

“In 2016, following a period in which the militaries of several States bombed hospitals across Syria and Yemen, and following the United States' devastating airstrikes on MSF’s hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, the UK championed the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2286 to protect the wounded and sick, medical workers, and healthcare facilities in conflict zones. The resolution deplored the immediate and longer term consequences of attacks on healthcare for civilian populations and demanded an end to impunity for those responsible.

“Ten years on, attacks have not only continued, but have increased. Patients and medical staff continue to be killed and wounded. Healthcare providers have been punished for providing assistance in conflict zones. Lifesaving services for entire communities have been forced to stop, sometimes permanently, cutting off emergency medical care, safe childbirth, vaccinations, and essential treatment, often where no alternatives exist. Vast numbers of men, women and children have been left to suffer and die without basic medical assistance. These violations continue because States, including the UK, have not upheld their commitments to protect healthcare and have allowed these attacks to be carried out with complete impunity.

“The UK, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, and with a government that claims to champion international law, must now finally match its commitments with action. The government must condemn, without exception, every attack that violates the resolution, facilitate systematic independent and transparent investigations into every incident, and use all diplomatic, economic and political tool at its disposal to put pressure on States that are directly responsible for or that enable such attacks. This includes when attacks are perpetuated by UK allies. The UK can and must do more to live up to its obligations to protect medical care and those saving lives under fire.”