Dr. Mohannad Al Nsour

During a recent high-level meeting at the World Health Organisation (WHO) with Ministers of Health from the Eastern Mediterranean Region, participants were confronted with a disturbing reality: ten out of twenty-two countries in the region are currently under economic sanctions or restrictions. This figure is not just a number; it reflects a deepening crisis that transcends politics and directly threatens one of humanity’s most fundamental rights, the right to health.

Sanctions, regardless of their political or economic justifications, rarely remain confined to legal frameworks or financial institutions. Their consequences ripple through daily life, reaching hospitals, clinics, and homes. When medical imports are delayed, financial transfers frozen, and bureaucratic procedures paralyze delivery, patients become the first victims. Medicines vanish from shelves, essential equipment becomes prohibitively expensive, and healthcare professionals struggle between their commitment to serve and the impossible constraints imposed upon them.

Across the region, from Iran to Libya, the same pattern repeats. Restrictions on trade, finance, and humanitarian aid have crippled health systems and disrupted vital services. Even when sanctions do not explicitly target healthcare, their indirect effects undermine pharmaceutical supply chains, delay vaccine delivery, and disrupt immunization and primary-care programs. The result is a silent epidemic that kills not by gunfire, but by deprivation.

Reports indicate that these sanctions lead to rising rates of preventable deaths, shortages of medications for chronic diseases, and declining quality of preventive and curative services. They also contribute to the exodus of skilled health professionals forced to migrate in search of safety and stability. These are not distant consequences; they represent the daily struggles of millions who find that access to treatment has become a privilege rather than a guarantee.

While field evidence signals distress, there remains an urgent need for more scientific research to fully understand the relationship between sanctions and public health deterioration. Early findings indicate a strong correlation, yet these observations must be reinforced through rigorous quantitative and qualitative studies. Only then can policies be shaped by evidence and humanity rather than ideology or political convenience.

Regional Office (WHO EMRO) lists a growing number of countries facing varying forms of sanctions. Among them are Iran, Yemen, Sudan, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and the occupied Palestinian territories. Whether comprehensive or sectoral, these restrictions disrupt medical supply chains and limit access to essential healthcare, depriving citizens and refugees alike of timely and adequate treatment.

In the face of these challenges, strengthening community awareness becomes a crucial form of resilience. Empowering individuals with health literacy, teaching disease prevention, good nutrition, and effective use of available resources, becomes a lifeline when access to medicine and care are limited. Civil-society organizations, professional associations, and the media must unite to promote a culture of health and prevention. In times of siege, information itself becomes a form of resistance and survival.

The path forward demands coordinated action between governments, regional institutions, and international partners to minimize the human cost of sanctions. Policies must ensure continuity of essential services, safeguard medical supply routes through secure humanitarian channels, and establish systems for transparency, oversight, and accountability. This is not a plea for leniency but a call for moral clarity: health must be neutralized from political conflict, and medicine must never be weaponized.

Remaining silent in the face of patient suffering is a form of complicity. Ignoring the human cost of sanctions betrays the compassion and solidarity that define our shared humanity. It is time to separate health from politics and reaffirm that access to care is not a privilege to be negotiated, but a sacred and inviolable right. In every siege, it is the human being who loses most, and for that human being, we must find the courage to break the walls of silence and the machinery of sanctions alike.