Renewed conflict in northern Ethiopia is severely degrading access to healthcare, the head of the World Health Organization warned on Monday, calling on armed parties to protect civilians and critical infrastructure. "The violence in northern Ethiopia is pushing an already fragile health system closer to collapse," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, adding that hospitals face shortages of health workers, medicines, and equipment, that ambulance services are severely limited, and that insecurity is obstructing the delivery of life-saving medical supplies to some areas.

Tedros issued the warning following drone strikes over the preceding weekend that killed civilians, including children and a newborn, at a displacement camp in the Amhara region. In a separate strike in the town of Rama in Tigray, several people were reportedly killed while trying to get food. The WHO chief said drone attacks and civilian casualties "have tragically become frequent across Ethiopia."

Fresh fighting between Ethiopian government forces and rebel groups resumed in Amhara, Tigray, and Afar in September, nearly four years after a peace deal. As the conflict continues, Tedros warned, more people are likely to lose access to essential healthcare — including emergency services, maternal and childcare, and treatment for diseases.

WHO and its partners are "working around the clock to deliver additional much needed medical supplies to all the affected regions," Tedros said, while stressing that the most durable solution remains an end to hostilities. "The most courageous choose peace," he wrote. "The best medicine is peace."

UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who has warned of the risk of escalation and wider destabilization, said on the preceding Friday that he was "appalled" by recent attacks on civilians, including on health facilities. His spokesperson's statement called on the parties "to spare the civilian population and critical infrastructure and agree without delay to a cessation of hostilities as a first step towards ending this devastating conflict," and renewed an appeal to engage in good faith with mediation efforts.

This article is based on a primary source and has undergone editorial review prior to publication.