Armed Conflict: A Peril to Health Care System

Warfare has existed in society since the dawn of time. People engaged in it for a variety of reasons, including survival and hegemony. As society develops into modern state nations, the methods of war have modernised. Armed conflicts obliterate the lives of millions. It displaces thousands of people, rendering them homeless. International Humanitarian law (IHL) is a set of legal frameworks that aim to mitigate the effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons. It imposes restrictions on the ways in which war is perpetrated and protects those who are not engaged or have ceased to be directly or actively engaged in hostilities, without forgetting the hazards faced by the healthcare system during such confrontations. The main focus of this paper is how the healthcare system is hit worse during times of armed conflict, followed by the laws of warfare and their development, and key observations made while analysing different conflicts, the implementation, or the tactics and loopholes played by various parties to Armed conflict and International Authorities.