The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that fighting in northern Ethiopia is pushing the country's fragile health system towards collapse. Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement on Monday that the conflict between Tigray rebels and the federal government had killed several civilians in recent days. He said the fighting was also straining medical facilities, Al Jazeera reported.
According to Tedros, hospitals are short of health workers, medicines and equipment. Ambulance services are severely limited. Insecurity is blocking life-saving medical supplies from reaching some areas. He warned that as the fighting continues, more people are likely to lose access to emergency care, maternal and child healthcare and treatment for diseases.
At least 15 people, several of them children, died in a series of drone strikes on a camp for displaced civilians in the Amhara region on October 30. Sources involved in the rescue operation gave the figure to the Reuters news agency. Tedros confirmed that children were among those reported killed at the Jaari 2 displacement camp. He said several people were also killed while seeking food in Rama, in neighbouring Tigray.
Tedros gave no overall death toll for the attacks and did not say who carried them out. He warned that drone attacks and civilian deaths were becoming more frequent across Ethiopia. He said this was worsening public health and humanitarian problems. Al Jazeera described Tedros as the world's highest-profile Tigrayan.
The WHO and other United Nations agencies are working to deliver more supplies, Tedros said. He called for civilians to be protected. He also asked that health workers and medical products be allowed to reach people in need.
Renewed fighting between a rebel alliance from Tigray and the government in Addis Ababa has all but shattered the peace agreement the two sides signed in November 2022, Al Jazeera reported. The violence has raised fears of a wider conflict.