UN Security Council Arria‑Formula Meeting
Organized by Denmark, New Zealand and Spain
A Decade of Resolution 2286: Protecting Medical Care in Conflict Amid Evolving Threats
May 5, 2026, 15:00-18:00
Statement of Yale Humanitarian Research Lab
Good afternoon. I’m Dr. Danielle Poole, Faculty Director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab. For the past half decade, our Lab has tracked attacks on healthcare around the world through a fusion of satellite imagery and open source data analysis.
What we have learned through this work is that systematic remote data collection is essential for not only documenting individual attacks but understanding broader patterns of attacks on healthcare. The patterns we have identified are clear and deserve the urgent attention of member states: healthcare facilities are being attacked intentionally and repeatedly.
During Russia’s siege of Mariupol, Ukraine, healthcare facilities had over 4 times the odds of being hit relative to non-healthcare facilities. In the first month of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza, hospitals sustained indiscriminate damage -- more than other infrastructure. In Sudan, nearly half of hospitals in Khartoum State were damaged in 500 days, cutting off care for a third of the state’s population. Perpetrators have the same access to healthcare locations, and yet, attacked medical facilities without distinction and with intent.
Quantifying the scope of perpetrators’ impunity is not optional. To do so requires sustained investments in research that analyze how these attacks are evolving. While we understand the global funding constraints, the world cannot protect healthcare during conflict without this critical data.
Systematic data collection shows us what actions by armed actors put health systems at risk and challenges assumptions about how to protect them. Healthcare workers in conflict deliver lifesaving services every day. Our job is to provide the evidence needed to better protect them, assist them, and hold perpetrators accountable.