Attacks on healthcare Reach Record Highs as Humanitarian Funding Dries Up
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Attacks against health facilities doubled between 2023 and 2024, and more than 900 health workers where killed last year, the agency reported.
Humanitarian aid workers were also killed in record numbers in 2024. Yet, 2025 is outpacing even these dark statistics at a time when funding for humanitarian work is shrinking and support services established over decades are struggling to operate.
!The Special Surgery Building at Al-Shifa Medical Complex in central Gaza City has been reduced to rubble.
Assault on Gaza’s health system
The nearly two-year-long war has devastated gaza’s health system, leaving thousands without access to essential services. Now, as famine takes hold, miscarriages, premature births and low birth weight cases have surged, while newborn deaths are increasing, the UN agency warned.Life must continue even when bombs are going off.
“As the delivery room was under direct fire, I delivered babies in hospital hallways,” said Ayda, a senior midwife in northern Gaza. “For lights, we used mobile phones. Despite the lack of supplies and water, our hands continued to work. Life must continue even when bombs are going off.”
As October 2023, the World Health Organization (WHO) has documented over 720 attacks on healthcare in Gaza, with at least 1,580 health workers killed and as yet unkown numbers arrested and detained by Israel. Among them was Ayda, who just days after sharing her story, was killed in an airstrike along with 37 members of her family.
!Dr. Khalid Badreldin completed his studies at the Ibrahim Malik Hospital in Khartoum, which now lays in ruins.
Dr. Khalid Badreldin completed his studies at the Ibrahim Malik Hospital in Khartoum, which now lays in ruins.
Delivering amid devastation in sudan
In a field of rubble that used to be part of the Ibrahim Malik Hospital in Khartoum,Dr. khalid Badreldin, a reproductive health analyst with UNFPA in Sudan,recalled performing his first surgery and delivering his first baby there.
“Now, I find it like this,” he said, lamenting the now shuttered hospital that was once a major provider of emergency treatment and maternal and neonatal services. The hospital has joined more than 80 per cent of health facilities in Sudan’s conflict zones that are no longer operational.
Meanwhile, midwives in Khartoum, the capital, are taking “huge risks to reach women in their homes”, explained Hawaa Ismael, who works at the UNFPA-supported Kararai Health Center.”it was exhausting, working day and night, but it’s our duty, and I’m proud of what we’ve done.”
On the other side of the country, staff at the El Fasher Maternity Hospital have come under attack, with one midwife killed when her home was shelled on Thursday and another kidnapped.
Haiti’s spiralling crisis
Clinics and hospitals have been deliberately targeted in the crisis that has gripped haiti over the past 18 months, further weakening a health system already hobbled after years of conflict, looting and financial collapse.
Conflict Zones: Protecting mothers and Newborns in Ukraine and DR Congo
The ability to safely give birth is increasingly threatened for women in conflict zones around the world. Ongoing violence in Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is disrupting maternal healthcare, forcing expectant mothers to seek care under dangerous conditions, and putting healthcare workers at risk.
Ukraine: Giving Birth Amidst Bombings
The war in Ukraine has created immense challenges for pregnant women. The constant threat of strikes and shelling makes accessing even basic medical care a perilous undertaking.
“The fighting nearby is loud and constant,” shared anastasiia, a mother who recently gave birth. “I was afraid to give birth, but life goes on.We want to live too.”
Many regions within Ukraine lack the specialized infrastructure needed for complicated births.Specifically,a shortage of neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) means that even if a Caesarean section is possible,comprehensive care for potential complications is often unavailable. As her due date neared, Anastasiia travelled 20km to the Kharkiv Regional Perinatal Centre, despite the city being regularly targeted by bombings, drone strikes, and artillery fire. https://www.unfpa.org/news/ukraine-conflict-threatens-lives-pregnant-women-and-newborns
The healthcare workers providing this vital care also face significant risks.Roman, a member of a UNFPA mobile psychosocial support team in Dnipro, described the emotional toll: “When we arrive at the sites of attacks or in cases of violence, it’s like our own reactions are on hold. Onyl later, when we look back and discuss it, do we realise how difficult it actually was.” These teams provide crucial mental health support to both mothers and responders. https://www.unfpa.org/ukraine
DR Congo: A Collapsing Healthcare System
In the eastern DRC, the situation is equally dire. Years of conflict have decimated the healthcare infrastructure, with the majority of facilities either bombed or looted. Currently, only about one-third of hospitals and one in five health centres in the region are operational.https://www.unfpa.org/news/dr-congo-conflict-forces-women-give-birth-shelters-and-under-trees
UNFPA’s mobile health teams are often the only available option for pregnant women.Francine toyata, displaced since February 2023, travelled through dangerous conditions to reach a UNFPA-supported mobile clinic in the Rutshuru territory of North kivu province to give birth.”It is for women like Francine that we do this work,” said Nelly, her midwife.
The escalating conflict is further exacerbating the crisis. Recent attacks have targeted camps for internally displaced people, and mobile health clinics and listening centres have been looted and destroyed, leaving both women and healthcare providers vulnerable. Nelly emphasized the urgent need for increased support: “We need more support to meet these urgent needs.” https://www.unfpa.org/dr-congo
UNFPA’s Role
The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is working on the ground in both Ukraine and the DRC to provide essential maternal healthcare services, including:
Mobile health clinics
Psychosocial support
Reproductive health supplies
Training for healthcare workers
These efforts are critical to ensuring that women in conflict zones have access to the care they need to survive and thrive. However, continued and increased support from the international community is essential to address the growing humanitarian needs.