WHPA warns attacks, funding cuts are endangering health workers in conflict zones

The World Health Professions Alliance is marking World Humanitarian Day with a call to stop attacks on doctors, nurses and other health workers in conflict zones. The group cites rising violence and funding cuts that are worsening access to care and putting patients and health systems at greater risk.

Why it matters: - Health workers in conflict zones are facing a growing mix of direct violence and shrinking humanitarian budgets. - The result is fewer services, fewer medicines and weaker health systems for civilians caught in war. - WHPA says protecting health professionals is essential to protecting patients and preserving shared humanity.

What happened: - On World Humanitarian Day, the World Health Professions Alliance called for an immediate end to attacks on health professionals, patients and health facilities. - The appeal came from Geneva on Aug. 19, 2026. - WHPA stood in solidarity with humanitarian workers worldwide and urged governments, parties to conflict and the international community to act urgently. - The group also launched a call to sign its open letter on safeguarding healthcare facilities and personnel in areas of conflict.

The details: - Doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, dentists and pharmacists are providing care to people caught up in war while risking their own safety. - International humanitarian law requires health workers, patients and medical facilities to be protected at all times. - WHPA says those protections are being ignored more often, and accountability remains rare. - The Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition 2026 annual report documented 2,546 attacks on health care across 33 countries in 2025. - The report counted 790 hospitals bombed in 2025. - The report also said search-and-rescue teams were targeted by drone strikes. - In 2025, 455 health workers were killed, 218 were kidnapped and 263 were arrested or detained. - Nearly three-quarters of conflict-affected countries saw health services severely impacted by budget cuts, according to the same report. - WHPA said deep cuts to health and humanitarian funding have reduced essential services in conflict settings. - WHPA represents the global organizations for dentists, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and physicians, and speaks for more than 47 million health care professionals in more than 179 countries and territories. - World Humanitarian Day is observed on Aug. 19 and is organized by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. - The day commemorates the 2003 attack on U.N. headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, in which 22 U.N. aid workers were killed. - More information is available on WHPA and on World Humanitarian Day.

Between the lines: - WHPA is framing attacks on health care and funding cuts as a single crisis, not two separate problems. - Armed drones and other advanced weapons systems are making medical care harder to protect in modern conflicts. - Howard Catton, WHPA chair and CEO of the International Council of Nurses, said health professionals choose patients, not sides, and called the situation a "double assault on health care." - Catton said states and parties to conflict must uphold international humanitarian law and hold attackers to account.

What's next: - WHPA is pressing governments and conflict parties to protect health professionals and health facilities immediately. - The alliance wants accountability for attacks on health care and stronger compliance with international law. - WHPA says continued conflict, funding losses and violence will keep threatening life-saving care unless action comes fast.

The bottom line: - WHPA says health workers are not combatants or targets, and the right to safe medical care is now under intensifying pressure from war and budget cuts.