A new international report has documented 101 violent incidents against Nigerian healthcare facilities between 2023 and 2025, with armed groups, criminal kidnappers, and jihadist fighters abducting 91 health workers and killing 15 others. The report, titled 'Care in the Crosshairs: Violence Against Health Care in Conflict 2025', was published on July 17, 2026, by the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition, using data from Insecurity Insight's global monitoring system.
Escalation of Attacks Over Three Years
Violence against healthcare workers and facilities escalated sharply each year. In 2023, there were 24 incidents, resulting in 24 workers kidnapped and six killed. In 2024, incidents rose to 34, with 35 abducted and three killed. By 2025, the number of incidents climbed to 43, a 79 percent increase from 2023, with 32 workers abducted and six killed. Kidnapping incidents alone rose by more than 70 percent in 2025 compared to 2024.
Of the 91 workers abducted over the full period, 25 remain unaccounted for, and only 10 were confirmed released. One doctor, shot and seized in late December 2025 and freed in January 2026, was subsequently shot again and killed shortly after his release.
Geographic Spread and Perpetrators
The report noted that 95 percent of health worker kidnappings in 2025 occurred outside Nigeria's north-east, concentrated instead in the north-west and north-central zones where ransom kidnapping is common. Victims included doctors, surgeons, pharmacy owners, and drivers, seized from hospitals, clinics, road ambushes, and illegal checkpoints. In some cases, armed groups abducted health staff specifically to treat their own wounded fighters.
In 2025, attacks were recorded across 16 states, up from 12 in 2024. New cases emerged in Anambra, Adamawa, Kano, Ondo, Edo, and Nasarawa. Incidents in Zamfara state nearly tripled compared to 2024, with displacement affecting over 74,648 people in the region between December 2025 and May 2026.
The report attributed most incidents to unidentified gunmen, while also naming specific actors. ISWAP was linked to five attacks in Borno, Adamawa, and Yobe states, mostly targeting facilities for their medical supplies and food. Boko Haram ambushed an ambulance in Borno, injuring the driver and taking the vehicle. Militia groups in Katsina were connected to attacks in which workers were killed and injured, and Zamfara militia carried out a road abduction.
Specific Incidents and Impact
Three workers were killed in hospital shootings in Edo and Katsina, among them a physiotherapist killed when gunmen stormed the University of Benin Teaching Hospital in Benin City. The attack prompted a protest by staff at the facility. In Kaduna state, attackers raided a nursing and maternity centre, abducting a health worker, a security guard, and five patients, including a nine-month pregnant woman and a nursing mother with her infant.
The report also flagged the withdrawal of United States funding as a compounding crisis, noting that Nigeria received roughly $8 billion from USAID for health programmes between 2022 and 2024. The 2025 funding freeze led the coalition to estimate that approximately 28,000 health workers lost their jobs. Nigeria's 2026 budget allocated an additional $200 million to the health sector to offset part of the loss.
Government Response and Security Operations
Nigerian Army troops continue operations against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups as part of ongoing counterterrorism efforts. The Department of State Services (DSS) has said it will challenge the life sentences imposed on two senior commanders of the Ansaru terrorist group by a federal high court in Abuja, considering the punishment inadequate given the gravity of the offences.
