Attacks on humanitarian workers surge under new armed conflict tactics, leaving children without life‑saving aid

Ahead of World Humanitarian Day, World Vision calls for greater protection and accountability as new conflict tactics threaten aid workers, humanitarian access and children's survival.

London/Geneva, 10 August 2026 - A child should not have to know the sound of a military drone. 

Yet for millions of children living through conflict, the buzz overhead has become as familiar as a school bell.  Drones can now be heard above hospitals in Sudan, over war-torn villages in Ukraine, along roads where aid convoys once moved, and near shelters, where children wait for food, medicine, clean water, and safety.

Their presence signals danger, causing panic and keeping families indoors. Drone threats close roads, empty clinics and prevent aid workers from reaching those who need assistance most.

This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision warns that humanitarian access, protection of civilians, and aid worker safety are being reshaped by the changing nature of conflict, including the growing use of drones and other emerging technologies, leaving children cut off from the help they need most.

In East Darfur, Sudan, a drone attack on Al-Daein Teaching Hospital reportedly killed at least 64 people, including 13 children and healthcare workers, and left 90 others severely injured. The hospital was rendered completely non-functional, cutting off life-saving healthcare services. Drone attacks are being reported across a widening area of Sudan, including UN-reported strikes in El Obeid that hit a power and fuel station, forcing medical facilities to close.

In Ukraine, families describe children hiding in basements, listening to drones above their villages. Some have been separated from their parents for months while seeking safety abroad.

"Technology may be changing how conflicts are fought but it cannot change our responsibility to protect human life and dignity. Every drone strike that closes a clinic, destroys a road or forces aid workers to turn back is also an attack on a child’s chance to survive. Humanitarian workers are not targets. Hospitals are not targets. Children are not collateral damage,” said Isabel Gomes, Global Lead, Disaster Management, World Vision International.

More than 1,000 humanitarian workers have been killed in the past three years, with 350 killed in 2025 alone, the second-highest number ever recorded. At the same time, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack recorded at least 8,566 attacks on education in 2024 and 2025, more than a 40 per cent increase compared with 2022–2023, while the World Health Organization has verified nearly 1,900 attacks on healthcare facilities, personnel and services in 2026.

 

When aid workers are attacked or blocked from reaching people in need, children are left waiting for food, medicine and protection that may never come. Too often, those risking their lives to help are local people and members of the very communities caught in the conflict.

Last year, World Vision welcomed the "Declaration for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel", a commitment to uphold international law and take practical steps to protect humanitarian personnel. This was an important step towards safeguarding aid workers, defending humanitarian access, and strengthening accountability when those protections are violated.

This World Humanitarian Day, World Vision calls on governments and parties to conflict to:

• Protect humanitarian workers, civilians, and civilian infrastructure in line with international humanitarian law.
• Guarantee safe, sustained, and unimpeded humanitarian access for children and families affected by conflict.
• Ensure independent investigations, accountability, and consequences for attacks on humanitarian workers, healthcare facilities, and other civilian infrastructure.
• Address the humanitarian consequences of drones and other emerging military technologies, including their impact on humanitarian access, civilian protection, and children’s safety. 

Protecting humanitarian workers is inseparable from protecting children. Every attack that prevents aid workers from reaching a community exposes children to hunger, disease, violence, exploitation, and despair.

“When humanitarian workers are attacked or prevented from reaching communities, children lose the people bringing food, medicine, clean water and protection. Governments must treat every such attack not simply as another statistic, but as a test of whether international law will be upheld,” said Gomes.

This World Humanitarian Day, the global #ActForHumanity campaign reminds us that every humanitarian worker killed is more than a number. It forces us to ask uncomfortable questions: How many more aid workers must die, how many more hospitals stop functioning, before expressions of concern are matched by accountability? Protection requires action, accountability, and consequences when international law is violated.

World Vision honours humanitarian workers who have lost their lives and those who continue to serve in the world’s most dangerous places. Remembrance must now be matched by protection, access, and accountability.

Notes to editors

World Humanitarian Day is marked annually on 19 August. The 2026 campaign, #ActForHumanity, calls for stronger protection of humanitarian workers, accountability for attacks and safe humanitarian access for people in crisis.

For more information, please contact: 
Annila Harris

Sr Advisor Humanitarian Communications and Engagement
Email: annila_harris@wvi.org  

Learn more about protecting those who protect children
https://www.wvi.org/world-humanitarian-day

About World Vision
World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities to reach their full potential by tackling the root causes of poverty and injustice. World Vision serves all people, regardless of religion, race, ethnicity, or gender. For more information, please visit www.wvi.org