960 Deaths: Global Data Tracks Surge in Attacks on Healthcare Facilities
In northern Ethiopia, a collapsing ceasefire has overwhelmed hospitals in Mekele, while WHO data shows a global trend of violence against medical workers.
By Vanessa Lopez ·
More than 960 people died in 2026 due to attacks on healthcare facilities and workers across 19 countries, according to data collected by the World Health Organization. The organization released these figures as violence reignited in northern Ethiopia, a region already strained by a two-year civil conflict.
The crisis intensified on September 24, 2026, when a ceasefire between the Ethiopian government and Tigrayan rebels began to fail. A surgeon in Mekele, the capital of the Tigray region, described the aftermath as a week of chaos. Cell networks and electricity failed, leaving his team unable to coordinate care. "The floors were all filled up, there was no place to step," the surgeon said. He requested anonymity to avoid repercussions for treating rebel fighters.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the WHO, described the situation on social media as pushing a fragile health system closer to collapse. Ghebreyesus, who is Tigrayan and former Ethiopian health minister, noted that hospitals faced shortages of staff, medicine, and ambulances. He stated that the United Nations and WHO were working to deliver supplies to the affected areas.
The violence in Ethiopia is part of a wider global pattern. Lindsey Green, a researcher at Physicians for Human Rights, said that targeted attacks on healthcare are eroding the norm that medical care remains protected during conflict. Green noted that in 2026, the largest mass casualty event occurred in a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation center in Afghanistan. Hundreds of other deaths were recorded in Sudan, Lebanon, and Ukraine.
Funding cuts have worsened the situation. The dismantling of USAID in early 2025 reduced support for global health initiatives. In Tigray, regional hospitals lost federal funding after Tigrayan rebels ousted local leaders in May. A health worker in the region reported that more than 100 women died in childbirth over the past year due to a lack of medicine and fuel for ambulances.
An independent review of data from the 2020 to 2022 war found that the maternal mortality rate per 100,000 live births increased fivefold compared to prewar levels. Researchers found that 83% of clinics and hospitals could no longer serve pregnant women during that period. The Ethiopian government imposed an aid blockade on the region, which is home to more than 7 million people.
A report published in August 2026 by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa surveyed over 600 health workers in northern Ethiopia. Sixty-three percent reported attacks on ambulances, while 57 percent witnessed armed takeovers of their facilities between 2020 and 2024. One worker recalled Ethiopian forces forcing staff to step on the uniforms of Tigrayan rebels in a hospital in Mekele.
Ayoda Werede, a physician with Health Professionals for Tigray, said that while the Ethiopian military has not targeted health centers since the latest outbreak, other groups have stolen supplies. She noted that medication, equipment, and even mattresses were taken from patient beds. Many doctors in Tigray have left the country, and the surgeon in Mekele said the current instability is a repeat of past traumas.
Ethiopia's Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Prime Minister did not respond to requests for comment. The estimated 600,000 deaths from the previous war have left the health infrastructure partially functional. As the conflict continues, medical staff report a lack of security and resources to treat the growing number of injured civilians and fighters.
