The Amhara people in Ethiopia face an overlooked public health crisis amid another armed conflict in the region

The prevalence of conflict is a well-known contributor to the emergence of humanitarian crises that lead to both direct and indirect public health challenges. In Ethiopia, the past three years have been marked by an armed conflict that has produced numerous public health difficulties in the country. The recent Northern Ethiopia war resulted in hundreds of thousands of fatalities and the displacement of millions of people. A few months after the end of the Northern Ethiopia war, another conflict erupted in Amhara region in April 2023, which has since spread throughout the region. This commentary is intended to examine the public health implications of the armed conflict in the Amhara region, which has not received sufficient attention from the global community. Since the outbreak of a new-armed conflict in Amhara, the area has experienced with both direct and indirect consequences. Marked by multiple civilian attacks and extrajudicial killings, the military action in the region has caused displacement of millions of Amhara people with limited access to humanitarian assistance. Those who still reside in conflict-affected areas of the region face high burden of Malnutrition and Food Insecurity with a compromised access to essential public services such as clean water, hospitals, roads, and financial institutions such as banks. This conflict has disrupted the region's WASH facilities and hindered access to early identification and treatment leading to an increased in the incidence of communicable diseases such as Cholera, Malaria and Measles. The surveillance system of the region has also been severely impacted coupled with a collapsing health system that is unable to adapt amid the crisis. Despite the looming humanitarian and public health catastrophe, there has been minimal support from the government of Ethiopia and the global community to mitigate the implications of the war and assist the Amhara people. Therefore, it is imperative that the international community pay appropriate attention to the ongoing public health crisis and ensure that the people of Amhara receive the necessary basic and life-saving support.