Maintaining Access to Essential Health Technologies in Conflict-Affected Settings: Calibrating Security-Sensitive Transfer Controls

Abstract

This study examines how armed conflict disrupts the conditions needed to implement security-sensitive transfer controls on essential health technologies. It maps selected technologies against Australia Group control lists, EU Regulation 2021/821 and IAEA guidance on the import and export of radioactive sources. The analysis covers classification, authorisation, end-use verification, transport, lifecycle support and post-delivery accountability. The Wassenaar Arrangement and Chemical Weapons Convention provide comparative frameworks. Examples from Gaza and Ukraine illustrate different challenges affecting access to diagnostic equipment and continuity of cancer care. They are used as contextual illustrations, not country-based comparative case studies. The study finds that differentiated control mechanisms already exist, but armed conflict may weaken the institutional, regulatory and verification conditions needed to apply them. It identifies practical priorities for strengthening existing procedures while preserving security safeguards and access to essential healthcare. Scientific poster prepared for Geneva Health Forum 2026, Geneva, Switzerland.