Attacks on health care initiative: Preventing and protecting against attacks

WHO has put considerable effort in documenting the problem to inform the global response to attacks on health care. The Surveillance System for Attack on Health Care (SSA) is the primary tool collecting and sharing data about incidents of attacks in emergency countries. Through the SSA, WHO has established the first body of verified and reliable evidence, which can be used to generate analyses and reports to better understand attacks on health care.

In addition, WHO advocates at the global and local levels to promote behaviour change. The global level strategy includes the organization of high-level events about attacks on health care, collaborations with partners involved in this field and social media campaigns. At the local level, WHO raises awareness about the importance of addressing attacks, distributes and shares information to support the response, negotiates for better access to health and collaborates with partners who have activities at the operational level.

Finally, WHO has invested in the development of a body of research looking at the impact of attacks on health care and the documentation of good practices for prevention and protection measures. These aim to support health care providers in designing effective responses to attacks on health care.

As the full extent of the impact of attacks on health care is not yet known, WHO is investing in researches on the different aspects of attacks as well as their short, mid and long term consequences. Through its research, WHO aims to provide more information about the impact of attacks on health care to the health of the affected populations as well as health service delivery, availability and accessibility.

Addressing attacks on health care is a complex and challenging task. During emergencies, attacks come in so many shapes and forms that solutions to address them must be locally adapted in order to be effective.

When addressing attacks on health care, it is important to keep in mind that incidents of attacks should not be viewed as isolated events, but as one piece of a larger problem. By conducting thorough context analyses, health care providers can adapt their protective measures to address the challenges posed by the local political, socioeconomic, cultural and historical contexts in which they operate. For this reason, WHO is conducting research on drivers of violence in various contexts and will provide a framework to conduct context analyses in emergency countries.

Furthermore, WHO documents good practices undertaken by various actors to prevent attacks and mitigate their impact in emergency countries. Although each “practice” is dependent on the context in which they occur, there are aspects that can be generalized across operations to allow for better protection against attacks.  These resources will help to generate evidence-based recommendations for health actors, authorities, communities and other stakeholders to generate effective solutions to address attacks on health care at country-level.