Testimony, advocacy, and the public health effect of genocide

In 2000, JAMA published a commentary by Willis and Levy calling for action to ensure recognition of the public health impact of genocide.1 The genocide it was reflecting on was in Rwanda, where over the course of roughly 100 days, between 800 000 and one million people, predominantly ethnic Tutsis, were killed by Hutu extremists.2The commentary challenged the notion of medical neutrality and claimed an important role for the medical and public health community in educating the public and policy makers and engaging in advocacy to prevent and stop genocide. Yet a quarter of a century later, we have not been able to prevent or stop the genocide unfolding now in Gaza.On 16 September 2025, an independent commission operating under the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights released a report describing the legal framework for determining that a genocide was occurring and finding sufficient evidence that one…