Drive-up vaccination was part of a 10-day campaign this month to protect Syrians from cholera, especially in earthquake-stricken areas where the risk of infectious disease is rising. ©WHO
About one of every eight people on the planet is on the move, and that number is expected to grow, spurred by poverty, violence, environmental degradation, earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters.
With the support of its contributors, WHO is helping meet the health-care needs of displaced people – including many millions of children – while calling for additional resources to cover the enormous gaps that remain.
“In a region plagued with protracted emergencies, refugees and migrants are a permanent feature of our societies, yet they remain in many cases among the most vulnerable and neglected communities,” said Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, participating in a high-level meeting on refugees and migrants last week in Egypt. “A whole-of-route approach to refugee and migrant health is essential to an inclusive health system, a step in the direction of universal health coverage and an integral part of our regional vision of health for all by all.”
This issue visits WHO-supported mobile clinics that are serving earthquake victims in the Syrian Arab Republic; health centres in the drought-stricken greater Horn of Africa, where more than 46 million people are living in situations of acute food insecurity; and facilities in Georgia and the Republic of Moldova that are helping Ukrainian refugees with disabilities adapt to their new surroundings.
Also read about infection-control improvements at the world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh and WHO’s fast response to bring expertise and supplies to a refugee camp in Sudan that was destroyed by fire.
Related news:
Countries urged to safeguard the health of refugees and migrants
Second high-level interregional meeting on the health of refugees and migrants
WHO responds to help millions of Syrians in dire need of health care
“WHO is moving rapidly with partners to take advantage of this pause in the sanctions [on Syria],” said Dr Richard Brennan, WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. “We have ordered more medical supplies, but we also need vital equipment like x-rays and CT machines.” Above: a makeshift medical facility in Syria. ©OCHA/Madevi Sun-Suon
This photo essay, Syria: the time is now, shows how WHO and partners are helping address the country’s enormous health-care needs following February’s devastating earthquake, which came amid a 12-year-old armed conflict.
With the support of donors, WHO has supplied Syria with more than 44 million medical treatments and about 8.5 million medical procedures over the past five years. The Organization has also trained more than 120 000 health-care providers and supported nearly one million mental health consultations.
But the need has outpaced the support.
“Even before the earthquake, more than 90% of the Syrian people were living below the poverty line,” said Dr Tedros Adhanon Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “I call on the international community – governments, philanthropies and individuals – to dig deep to lift up those who are enduring unimaginable loss, poverty and deprivation.”
WHO has launched a flash appeal to support the health response in Syria and Türkiye.
See also:
WHO calls on global community to stand by Syria at Brussels donor conference
Novo Nordisk Foundation supports Syrians in earthquake
Reports from the drought crisis in the greater Horn of Africa:
In Ethiopia, mobile health teams respond to a deadly confluence of disease and malnutrition
One-year-old Zahara gets weighed as part of a medical checkup at a mobile outreach health site near Chifra, Afar, Ethiopia. ©WHO
Mobile health and nutrition teams, with support from WHO, are treating people caught in the region’s longest drought in generations, where the mix of malnutrition and disease has claimed many lives and threatens to claim more.
Most of the 24 million people affected by the drought in Ethiopia are nomadic pastoralists who have lost their livelihoods and need humanitarian assistance to survive. Since early 2022, the number of people earmarked for this assistance has almost tripled.
“Most of the children we treat come with malnutrition, diarrhoea or malaria,” said Ahmed Amin, a mobile clinic nurse.
WHO has provided 136 metric tons of essential medicines for Afar and three other Ethiopian regions overwhelmed by the drought, with financial support from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the European Union.
“While a lot is being done, there are still major challenges to mounting a robust response, due to a large funding gap,” says Dr Betty Lanyero, WHO’s Incident Manager for the drought response in Ethiopia. Read more
Also see:
Canada funds US$1.3 million in vital medical equipment for Ethiopia
2023 funding appeal for the greater Horn of Africa
Somalia: fleeing drought, survivors receive care at Mogadishu camp
Seeking refuge from the longest drought in generations, ever-growing numbers of people are arriving at Daynile camp in Mogadishu, above. WHO is supporting health screening, treatment, immunization and referral services to new arrivals. ©WHO/Somalia
WHO is working with local teams to provide health services to a camp in Mogadishu that is sheltering more than half a million people displaced by the region’s long drought.
Abdirahmat, a young father, said he walked 120 kilometers with his wife and baby to reach the Daynile camp after the family’s wells dried up and their livestock died.
“I am thankful to WHO health teams for saving the life of my wife and newborn child by giving them timely medications after we arrived at the camp,” he said tearfully, standing at an improvised WHO clinic along a roadside.
WHO Surveillance Officer Abdulkadir Mohamed Adi said the camp is seeing long queues of people awaiting basic care after going through similar ordeals.
“Mothers with their children who were waiting to receive services were very excited since they have never before received such services,” he said. “And there were many zero-dose children receiving the first vaccination of their lifetime.” Read more
Related news:
KSrelief and WHO cooperate in Somalia to increase access to medical oxygen, reduce childhood deaths
WHO boosts health assistance to Somalia’s drought refugees in Ethiopia
Drought refugees from Somalia arriving in Ethiopia. ©WHO/Abdisalan Muktar
WHO is stepping up its health response to increase access to essential health services for refugees and the host population in the Dollo Zone of Ethiopia’s Somali Region, where drought has brought hunger to thousands of households, caused acute malnutrition and heightened the risk of disease outbreaks.
WHO has provided all the zone’s health facilities with supplies to treat emergencies and life-threatening malnutrition cases, and has deployed staff and technical experts to boost the response.
Since the beginning of February, an estimated 100 000 people fleeing the drought in Somalia have arrived in Ethiopia. They are mostly women, children, unaccompanied minors, and people who are wounded or sick and in dire need of humanitarian assistance. Read more
New study finds that 43 000 “excess deaths” may have occurred in 2022 from the drought in Somalia
WHO Emergencies Programme provides health assistance after fire at Sudan refugee camp
WHO and Sudan’s health ministry worked together to address the health needs stemming from January’s fire at the Al-Takamol refugee camp. ©WHO/Ali Raja
WHO responded quickly to the destruction of the Al-Takamol refugee camp, making sure that the nearby medical facility was staffed to handle the health needs – mental and physical – of the 2000 residents, half of whom are children.
The nearby Khaled Ibn Al Waleed Clinic had been struggling to operate with one doctor when WHO Health Emergencies Programme stepped in to cover extensive emergency supplies and a staff of 16 people for the clinic. The fire caused one death and many injuries, mostly burns and fractures.
Sudan hosts one of the largest refugee populations in Africa. The Al-Takamol camp had been standing for 12 years and was home to people fleeing violence in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Syria and Yemen. Read more
Also see: WHO helps Nigerian states scale up health care for displaced residents and host communities
WHO helps host countries improve services for Ukrainian refugees with disabilities
Refugees living with disabilities may need a range of specialized help, from sign-language interpreters in refugee centres to services for children with learning differences. Above: A camp for newly arriving Ukrainian refugees in Palanca, Ștefan Vodă, Republic of Moldova, 2022 ©WHO
WHO is leading a multi-partner project in Georgia and the Republic of Moldova to promote access to education, employment and social protection, eradicate discrimination, and provide other assistance to a large influx of Ukrainian refugees living with disabilities.
The project is funded by the United Nations Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
“Maybe some people need wheelchairs, maybe someone has a family member who is deaf and requires a hearing aid, but we don’t know about them, and they don’t know that help is available,” said Giorgi Dzneladze, Chairman of the Coalition for Independent Living in Georgia, a project partner. “I hope this project can bridge that gap and connect people with the help they need.”
Since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine in February 2022, nearly 200 000 Ukrainian refugees have entered Georgia, and about 780 000 have entered the Republic of Moldova, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Read more about the project in Georgia and the Republic of Moldova.
Also see: WHO 2023 Emergency Appeal: Ukraine and refugee-receiving countries
Bangladesh scales up infection prevention and control in Rohingya refugee health facilities
Health workers examine a COVID-19 patient at the world’s largest refugee camp – for Rohingya refugees – in Bangladesh. ©WHO Bangladesh/Tatiana Almeida
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WHO thanks all governments, organizations and individuals who are contributing to the Organization’s work, with special appreciation for those who provide fully flexible contributions to maintain a strong, independent WHO.
Donors and partners featured in this week’s stories include:
Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)
Coalition for Independent Living
Ethiopia Humanitarian Fund
European Disability Forum
European Union
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Novo Nordisk Foundation
OHCHR
Sudanese Red Crescent
Syria Immunization Group (SIG)
UN Human Rights (OHCHR)
UNICEF
UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)
UN Partnership on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
UN Population Fund
UN Women
United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies (contributors in 2022-23: Canada, Estonia, Germany, Kuwait, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Slovakia, Switzerland, United States of America)