Conflict & Health

Three images from the war in Ukraine are overlaid onto of a blurred image of a burning field with apartments in the background. Images from top to bottom: A male Ukrainian doctor in a white lab coat and dark surgical cap, stands in the middle of a destroyed hospital interior. Rubble and building debris surround him. A blonde woman is overcome with emotion as she stands outside a destroyed apartment building. A Red Cross volunteer embraces an elderly woman crying.

Special Project

The Toxic Toll of War

This special project explores the public health consequences of war—even after the fighting is over.

“Targeted and indiscriminate attacks on hospitals, clinics, and workers in an armed conflict are war crimes. When committed as part of a state policy on a widespread or systematic basis, such attacks are also crimes against humanity.”
— Destruction and devastation: One Year of Russia’s Assault on Ukraine’s health care system

Read the series

A light pink hospital hallway leads to mass destruction: fallen walls, no ceiling, debris and dirt on the floor. Two panels line flat on the floor in the hallway.

Opinion

Russia’s attacks on health care in Ukraine are war crimes

A new report by leading human rights organizations documents evidence of deliberate attacks on Ukraine’s healthcare infrastructure.

Photo illustration: Five images depicting destruction in Ukraine are compiled against a green-concrete background. A blue opaque bar comes in from the top-middle right and a yellow bar comes in from the bottom-middle left. The images show, from left: a forest with burnt trees, three unexploded missiles in a pile of grass, a blonde woman holding back tears in front of an exploded apartment complex, an oil slick in an ocean, and a rusted nuclear radiation sign.

Opinion

Environmental damage in Ukraine raises the health costs of war

Rebuilding Ukraine will be a lesson about the costs of war—to both humans and the environment.

Photo collage: Five images from the war in Ukraine. Clockwise from top left: Green overlay: A blasted apartment building with Ukrainian flags hanging on a fence and stuffed animals lying in reverence in the foreground. Yellow overlay: A shattered window with a whole from shrapnel. Red overlay: A Red Cross volunteer embraces an elderly woman crying. Blue overlay: A woman stands at the end of a crumbling hallway in a former hospital. Orange overlay: fires burn in a field with apartment and city buildings in the background.

Opinion

We must demand justice for atrocities against health care

Since 2016, there have been more than 4,000 attacks on health care in conflicts around the world. The international community must hold perpetrators accountable.

Lead photo illustration by Mary Delaware. Source images, top to bottom: Vadim Ghirda / AP Photo, Evgeniy Maloletka / AP Photo, Emilio Morenatti / AP Photo,rootstocks / iStock (background).