WHO verified over 100 attacks on healthcare in Ukraine

 
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The World Health Organization (WHO) verified over 100 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on 24 February, killing more than 70 people and causing long-term devastation to the healthcare system, according to a report on Thursday (7 April).
 
Of the current total of 103 attacks, barely 42 days since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, 89 have impacted health facilities, and 13 have affected transport, including ambulances. 
 
“It’s a truly sad irony that we are recording this milestone of over 100 attacks on health in Ukraine on World Health Day,” said Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, who visited the humanitarian hub of Lviv in western Ukraine on Thursday. 
 
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, said at a press conference that WHO is “outraged that attacks on health care are continuing”, adding that it is a violation of international humanitarian law. 
 
The attacks so far have claimed 73 lives and injured 51.
 
Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine, stressed that “health workers throughout the country are risking their lives to serve those in need of medical services, and they, and their patients, must never be targeted”. 
 
He continued: “Further, when people are prevented from seeking and accessing health care, either because the facilities have been destroyed or out of fear that they may become a target, they lose hope”.