Health and Human Rights News
News to 10 April 2026
Human Rights health groups demand an end to all fighting
Physicians for Human Rights, Physicians for Social Responsibility, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, and Human Rights Activists in Iran (HRA), are repeatedly calling for an immediate end to all fighting between the United States, Israel, and Iran. They highlight the severe public health consequences of attacks on health care and other civilian infrastructure by Israeli and US forces. “As health professionals we stand united that prevention is the only cure, and we cannot secure our common health and future through escalated military intervention.”
Multiple attacks on Iran’s health facilities
Israel and the United States have attacked multiple healthcare facilities in Iran threatening decades of public health advances, reports the People’s Dispatch. “The conflict in Iran, and the region, is impacting the delivery of health services and the safety of health workers, patients, and civilians present at health facilities” said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, adding, “Peace is the best medicine.”
Health workers, journalists, killed in Lebanon
The People’s Dispatch reports Israeli forces are systematically targeting journalists, health workers, UN personnel, and civilians in Lebanon, using similar tactics to those they used in the Gaza Strip. “At least nine Lebanese paramedics were killed in multiple Israeli attacks on ambulances and health facilities in different parts of Lebanon on Saturday, March 28. To justify the deliberate targeting of the Lebanese healthcare system, the Israeli Occupation Forces alleged that Hezbollah uses ambulances and medical facilities for military purposes.”
WHO fundraises for Lebanon
The World Health Organization says Lebanon’s health system has persisted in its lifesaving work, but critical services are under serious threat and are facing greater demand. To assist, WHO launched a Flash Appeal for US $30 million to address urgent needs across the five most affected countries in the Middle East region, including US $10 million for Lebanon.
UN Inquiry: War with Iran hides human rights violations in Gaza
The UN Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory reports that conflict across the Middle East is obscuring the suffering of the Palestinian people and continued violations by Israeli authorities. It stated, “In Gaza, Israeli attacks–including air strikes, shelling and drone attacks and shelling, are continuing to cause civilian casualties resulting in at least 200 people killed since 28 February 2026…Israeli authorities have also closed and reduced border crossings, suspended humanitarian movements in certain areas, almost completely suspended medical evacuations, and prevented Palestinians from returning to their homes.”
One Health Summit seeks cooperation and scientific innovation
World leaders gathered in France for the One Health Summit on World Health Day, 7 April, to reaffirm commitment to the prevention of future health crises through more integrated systems for managing the health of animals, humans, plants, and ecosystems. The World Health Organization announced four major actions: the launch of a Global Network of One Health Institutions, the extension and expansion of the One Health High-Level Expert Panel, a renewed global initiative to end rabies, and a new strategic plan to tackle avian influenza threats. “The urgency could not be clearer. Climate change, environmental degradation, unsafe food, water contamination, biodiversity loss and unequal access to health care are among the most pressing challenges facing the world today.”
See also: One Health, COVID-19, and a Right to Health for Human and Nonhuman Animals, Kimberly Bernotas, Laurie Sellars, and Jeff Sebo, Vol 23/2, December 2021
Guidelines for opioid dependence to be updated
The World Health Organization is updating guidelines on opioid dependence treatment and overdose prevention, with recommendations due early 2027. WHO will continue to recommend opioid agonist maintenance treatment (OAMT) with methadone and oral buprenorphine, and will also include a conditional recommendation for long-acting injectable buprenorphine. Opioids continue to account for the largest share of the drug-related health burden, including fatal overdose, and in 2023 of approximately 600,000 deaths attributed to drug use globally, about 450,000 were due to opioid use.
See also: What Does it Mean to Adopt a Human Rights-based Approach to Drug Policy? Damon Barrett, Julie Hannah, and Rick Lines, January 2020
UN Experts concerned civil society is shut out of UN spaces
UN Experts including Tlaleng Mofokeng, the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, are calling on member states to put forward candidacy in elections of the ECOSOC NGO Committee. “We are increasingly concerned by attempts of a number of States to shut civil society out of UN spaces,” adding that some States of the NGO Committee abuse the accreditation process. “We encourage Member States that do prioritise civil society voices to step up and contest the elections, and in doing so, give more opportunity to independent civil society to be heard in UN spaces and contribute to the work of the United Nations.”
Trump plans to cut domestic programs to support military spending
President Trump has asked Congress to approve about US $1.5 trillion for defense in the 2027 fiscal year which would be the most ever spent on the military. The New York Times reported that the request would amount to a roughly 40% increase over the past year. “The administration coupled the proposal with a call for $73 billion in cuts spread across many domestic agencies, including the elimination of key federal health, housing and education programs, some of which serve minority groups and the poor.”
Trump admin further targets abortion services
The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced an investigation of 13 states that require state-regulated health insurance plans to cover abortion care, arguing that these states are violating the Weldon Amendment (a US federal funding provision) and discriminating against health care professionals who would refuse to provide abortion services. Human Rights Watch is urging Congress to repeal the Weldon Amendment to ensure “it can no longer be weaponized to restrict the right to health.”
See also: FIGHT FOR RIGHTS: The US Administration’s Assault on Global Reproductive Health and Autonomy, Winona Xu, 13 February 2025
Figueres: Sea-level rise is a health crisis
Former UN Climate Chief and Paris Agreement negotiator Chistiana Figueres is warning that nations are being ‘held hostage’ by their reliance on fossil fuels. In her role as co-chair of a Lancet Commission on Sea-Level Rise, Health and Justice, she is urging the climate community to frame climate change through the lens of health, dignity, livelihood, and identity, emphasizing the critical threat of rising sea levels. “We don’t have to treat sea-level rise as a regrettable side-effect of business as usual…There is a different way: one that recognises health, justice and climate stability are inseparable, and accountability is not optional.”
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