Ethiopian Conflict: Hospital Collapse in Tigray
New violence in northern Ethiopia has left health systems without power, staff, or supplies, resulting in high maternal mortality rates.
By Tomas Gonzalez ·
Surgeons in Mekele, Ethiopia, operated for up to eight days without electricity or cell service as a ceasefire broke down on September 24. The collapse of the two-year truce sent waves of injured civilians and combatants into a local hospital. Floors filled with patients until there was no space left to walk. The medical team treated victims of gunfire, drone strikes, and mortar shells. Some patients wore uniforms, while others appeared to be civilians. The lack of communication networks made it impossible to predict the volume of arrivals.
The World Health Organization warned that the violence is pushing the fragile health system closer to collapse. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, is Tigrayan and formerly served as Ethiopia's health minister. He reported that hospitals face shortages of workers, medicine, and ambulances. The U.N. and WHO are working to deliver medical supplies to the region. Ghebreyesus stated that civilians must be protected as fighting continues.
Targeted attacks on healthcare have become a global concern. Data collected by the WHO shows that attacks on health facilities and workers in 19 countries caused more than 960 deaths in 2026. The largest mass casualty event was a Pakistani airstrike on a drug rehabilitation center in Afghanistan. Hundreds of people also died in healthcare settings in Sudan, Lebanon, and Ukraine. Funding cuts to global health initiatives have complicated relief efforts. These cuts followed the dismantling of USAID after Donald Trump took office in 2025.
The current crisis stems from a two-year war that killed an estimated 600,000 people. Most health facilities in Tigray, a region home to more than 7 million people, remain only partially functional. The Ethiopian government imposed an aid blockade during the conflict. A 2022 peace agreement ended most hostilities, but attacks on healthcare continued. A report by Physicians for Human Rights and the Organization for Justice and Accountability in the Horn of Africa detailed these incidents between 2020 and 2024.
Surveys of more than 600 health workers in three regions of northern Ethiopia revealed widespread damage. Sixty-three percent reported attacks on ambulances. Fifty-seven percent witnessed an armed takeover of their clinic or hospital. One health worker in Mekele described Ethiopian forces occupying a hospital and forcing staff to step on the uniforms of Tigrayan rebels. Armed groups often occupied facilities to steal or destroy equipment. This made healthcare harder to access for local populations.
A health worker in Tigray counted more than 100 women who died in childbirth over the past year. He attributed these deaths to a lack of medicine, providers, and fuel for ambulances. An independent review of birth data from the 2020 to 2022 war period showed a fivefold increase in maternal mortality rates compared to prewar data. Eighty-three percent of clinics and hospitals were unable to serve pregnant women during that time. Systemic sexual violence was also used as a weapon of war.
Ayoda Werede, a California-based physician with Health Professionals for Tigray, noted that the Ethiopian military has not specifically targeted health centers in the latest violence. However, other groups have stolen supplies, including medication and mattresses. She described this as an opportunistic vacuum created by the conflict. Many doctors in Tigray have left the country. The remaining staff fear the system is stretched beyond capacity. They worry that injured people will have nowhere to go as the conflict reignites.
