Africa
WHO scales up emergency health response in Afar, Amhara and Tigray, delivering 71 tonnes of supplies
WHO said on 21 October it is expanding emergency health operations in northern Ethiopia, where it cites ongoing hostilities, and has delivered more than 71 tonnes of medical supplies.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said on 21 October that it is scaling up emergency health operations across Afar, Amhara and Tigray in northern Ethiopia, regions where it says growing humanitarian and health needs have resulted from ongoing hostilities.
In a news release published by its Ethiopia country office, WHO said it has strengthened emergency coordination mechanisms, deployed technical teams and expanded operational support so that essential health services keep running in affected areas. It said it is working with national and regional health authorities and with UN partners including UNOCHA, UNAIDS, IOM, UNHCR, UNICEF and UNFPA.
Supplies and services
According to WHO, it has delivered more than 71 metric tonnes of essential medical supplies to Tigray, Amhara and Afar. The shipments include emergency health kits, cholera response materials, reproductive health kits and medicines for noncommunicable diseases.
The agency also said it is supporting disease surveillance, outbreak investigation, vaccine distribution and emergency referrals, and is helping to sustain mobile health and nutrition teams and health facilities. WHO listed primary health care, disease prevention, maternal and reproductive health services, and treatment for communicable and noncommunicable diseases among the services these teams provide in areas it described as affected by insecurity and displacement.
WHO credited donors for the work, naming the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) and the European Union through its European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations department (ECHO). It added that continued donor support “remains critical” to sustaining emergency health operations.
Background
The release is the latest UN account of the humanitarian situation in the north. Geopolitiki reported earlier this month that UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher had released $8.5 million from CERF for people in northern Ethiopia, in UN releases $8.5 million for northern Ethiopia as access to Tigray improves but fighting continues. In that report the UN described the security situation in Afar, Amhara and Tigray as volatile and spoke of fighting, artillery shelling, looting and disruption to health services.
The fighting itself was covered in Ethiopian government forces retake Mekelle as TPLF withdraws from Tigray capital. The WHO release does not say who is responsible for any attack or for the disruption it describes, and it gives no casualty figures, so none are reported here.
