This article is based on the author’s latest book ‘Sick of It: the Global Fight for Women’s Health.’

On the 2nd July 2024 International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) reported ‘another horrendous attack on one of our healthcare clinics’ killing and injuring staff in Darfur. Director-General of IPPF, Alvaro Bermejo noted:

‘Where will women and girls seek these services now? There must finally be a critical mass of people of conscience saying enough is enough in this forgotten crisis.’

The forgotten crisis Bermejo was talking about was the conflict in Darfur, attacks on healthcare in the region and the desperate sexual and reproductive health needs of 800,000 people, but it could also apply to the wider issue of attacks on women’s health in conflict. In the time between the Darfur attack on the 2nd and publication of my new book Sick of It: the Global Fight for Women’s Healthon the 11th, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 18 attacks on healthcare, predominantly in Ukraine, but also Sudan and Myanmar. Attacks on healthcare and ‘perilous medicine’ have been ubiquitous breaches of international law from conflicts in Afghanistan to Syria to Ukraine to Gaza. Such ubiquity has been matched by images of bombed maternity hospitals in the news and inconsistent condemnation. European and US leaders condemned Russian attacks in Ukraine and Syria, while the South African government cited attacks on healthcare in Gaza as part of the genocide case against Israel in the International Court of Justice. Few talk about Darfur.

What is happening in conflict is staring out from news images of bombed........

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