More than 800 health workers have died in "acts of war crimes" in Syria since 2011, according to an analysis published in The Lancet medical journal to mark six years since the start of the Syrian conflict.
Researchers say the health workers were killed in hospital bombings, shootings, torture and executions perpetrated mainly by government-backed forces.
The report says the Syrian government and its ally, Russia, have turned the violent withholding of health care into a weapon of war.
Its authors say the strategy of using people's need for health care against them by violently denying access sets a dangerous precedent that the global health community must urgently address.
It is the first report by The Lancet Commission on Syria led by the Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut.
