WHO and Dubai’s International Humanitarian City to send life-saving health supplies to Gaza Strip
21 February, Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Amid a worsening health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) logistics hub in Dubai, in partnership with Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, will be delivering critical health supplies worth over US$ 1.7 million to the Gaza Strip.
In total, 80 metric tonnes of life-saving medicines, including insulin, are being delivered through a temporary air bridge between the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Several air rotations are anticipated to deliver the supplies, which will support about 2 million people in the Gaza Strip.
“WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai provides a lifeline to countries affected by health emergencies across the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region and beyond. As the health crisis in the Gaza Strip unfolds and as hostilities in Rafah escalate, these medicines are critical for people whose access to medical care has been severely restricted owing to shortages facing the health system as a whole,” said Dr Hanan Balkhy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
“WHO is grateful for the support of Dubai’s International Humanitarian City, the Government of Dubai and the Government of the United Arab Emirates to deliver life-saving supplies to the world’s most vulnerable populations in their greatest time of need,” Dr Balkhy added.
Rafah’s population has increased five-fold to 1.5 million as it now houses half of Gaza’s displaced people. Still more families continue to arrive in Rafah as violence intensifies in the southern Gaza Strip.
“Since 2018, the logistics hub at Dubai’s IHC has been at the forefront of WHO’s humanitarian response, reaching over 100 million people with humanitarian health supplies. Our coordination for the response to the humanitarian emergency in Gaza began in October. Today, we continue to closely coordinate with WHO and all our partners to address the pressing needs for humanitarian health assistance in Gaza, with the ongoing airbridge and at least four additional airlifts,” Giuseppe Saba, CEO of Dubai’s International Humanitarian City said.
Through its logistics hub in Dubai, WHO has delivered enough medicines to reach over 1 million people in Gaza since October 2023. Yet the needs continue to grow, and the delivery of supplies continues to be impeded by denials of access for humanitarian aid.
WHO has persevered to deliver vital medical supplies and to support health services in Gaza, navigating complex logistical and security obstacles to do so. The needs, however, far exceed the aid, and the sustained delivery of health supplies from Egypt into the southern Gaza Strip is vital to WHO’s ongoing operations to address severe medicine shortages and to bolster an ailing health system.
WHO transfers critical patients out of Nasser Medical Complex, fears for safety of remaining patients
20 February 2024 – WHO led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza on 18 and 19 February, amid ongoing hostilities and access restrictions. The high-risk missions were conducted in close partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The team also provided limited supplies of essential medicines and food for the remaining patients and staff who are otherwise cut off from aid.
Four PRCS ambulances ensured the safe transportation of the patients, who underwent medical assessment and triage under the coordination of the hospital director. Patients were moved to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza’s middle area, and the International Medical Corps, UAE and Indonesia field hospitals in Rafah.
The transfer of patients was requested by the hospital staff after the facility became non-functional following a military raid on 14 February, after a week-long siege. Weak and frail patients were transferred amidst active conflict near the aid convoy. Road conditions hindered the swift movement of ambulances, placing the health of patients at further risk. Patients transferred during the missions included three suffering from paralysis - two of them with tracheostomy - and several others with external fixators for severe orthopedic injuries. Two of the paralyzed patients required continuous manual ventilation throughout the journey, due to the lack of portable ventilators. A patient with a spinal fracture, previously referred to Nasser by WHO during a mission to Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza, had to be transferred again despite his condition.
Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease. WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was ‘indescribable.’ The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road.
An estimated 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain inside the hospital. As the ICU was no longer functioning, WHO staff transferred the only remaining ICU patient to a different part of the complex where other patients are receiving basic care.
WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to lifesaving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths. Efforts to facilitate further patient referrals amidst the ongoing hostilities are in process.
Prior to the missions, WHO received two consecutive denials to access the hospital for medical assessment, causing delays in urgently needed patient referral. Reportedly, at least five patients died in the Intensive Care Unit before any missions or transfers were possible.
On 17 February, an UNRWA-led mission, which included WHO staff, delivered 24,000 liters of fuel and limited food and water supplies to the hospital, after not being able to reach it on 16 February due to unforgiving road conditions, including a deep, muddy, impassable ditch 50 meters from the hospital. That day, despite the risks, WHO staff, accompanied by an engineer, managed to reach Nasser Medical Complex on foot. However, they were only permitted to examine the generator, which had ceased functioning after running out of fuel. During both missions, senior WHO staff clearly identified themselves upon entering the hospital compound and requested approval to assess patients and evaluate hospital functionality. These requests were denied.
As the raid continues, any further damage to Nasser Medical Complex will mean even more delays in restoring functionality. The hospital’s large medical warehouse, along with supplies provided by WHO and partners, has burnt down, and the warehouse for day-to-day medical supplies is partly damaged. The WHO-supported limb reconstruction center, housed within the hospital, is no longer operational. These are tragic developments that will further limit access to health care in a context where needs continue to soar.
The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza’s health system. Facilities in the south are already operating well beyond maximum capacity and are barely able to receive more patients.
WHO repeats its calls for the protection of patients, health workers, health infrastructure, and civilians. Hospitals must not be militarized, misused, or attacked.
WHO reiterates its calls for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law and the principles of precaution, distinction, and proportionality, and to ensure sustained access so hospitals can continue providing lifesaving care.
Photos: https://photos.emro.who.int/category/93/israelipalestinian-conflict-oct-2023-feb-2024?tab=categories
UNIFEED b-roll: https://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/unifeed/asset/3175/3175146/
Statement: WHO transfer critical patients out of Nasser Medical Complex, fears for safety of remaining patients
WHO led two life-saving missions to transfer 32 critical patients, including two children, from Nasser Medical Complex in southern Gaza on 18 and 19 February, amid ongoing hostilities and access restrictions. The high-risk missions were conducted in close partnership with the Palestine Red Crescent society (PRCS) and the United Nations OCHA occupied Palestinian territory.
The team also provided limited supplies of essential medicines and food for the remaining patients and staff who are otherwise cut off from aid.
Four PRCS ambulances ensured the safe transportation of the patients, who underwent medical assessment and triage under the coordination of the hospital director. Patients were moved to the European Gaza Hospital in Khan Younis, Al-Aqsa hospital in Gaza’s middle area, and the International Medical Corps, UAE and Indonesia field hospitals in Rafah.
The transfer of patients was requested by the hospital staff after the facility became non-functional following a military raid on 14 February, after a week-long siege. Weak and frail patients were transferred amidst active conflict near the aid convoy. Road conditions hindered the swift movement of ambulances, placing the health of patients at further risk. Patients transferred during the missions included three suffering from paralysis - two of them with tracheostomy - and several others with external fixators for severe orthopedic injuries. Two of the paralyzed patients required continuous manual ventilation throughout the journey, due to the lack of portable ventilators. A patient with a spinal fracture, previously referred to Nasser by WHO during a mission to Al-Ahli Hospital in northern Gaza, had to be transferred again despite his condition.
Nasser Hospital has no electricity or running water, and medical waste and garbage are creating a breeding ground for disease. WHO staff said the destruction around the hospital was ‘indescribable.’ The area was surrounded by burnt and destroyed buildings, heavy layers of debris, with no stretch of intact road.
An estimated 130 sick and injured patients and at least 15 doctors and nurses remain inside the hospital. As the ICU was no longer functioning, WHO staff transferred the only remaining ICU patient to a different part of the complex where other patients are receiving basic care.
WHO fears for the safety and well-being of the patients and health workers remaining in the hospital and warns that further disruption to lifesaving care for the sick and injured would lead to more deaths. Efforts to facilitate further patient referrals amidst the ongoing hostilities are in process.
Prior to the missions, WHO received two consecutive denials to access the hospital for medical assessment, causing delays in urgently needed patient referral. Reportedly, at least five patients died in the Intensive Care Unit before any missions or transfers were possible.
On 17 February, an UNRWA-led mission, which included WHO staff, delivered 24,000 liters of fuel and limited food and water supplies to the hospital, after not being able to reach it on 16 February due to unforgiving road conditions, including a deep, muddy, impassable ditch 50 meters from the hospital. That day, despite the risks, WHO staff, accompanied by an engineer, managed to reach Nasser Medical Complex on foot. However, they were only permitted to examine the generator, which had ceased functioning after running out of fuel. During both missions, senior WHO staff clearly identified themselves upon entering the hospital compound and requested approval to assess patients and evaluate hospital functionality. These requests were denied.
As the raid continues, any further damage to Nasser Medical Complex will mean even more delays in restoring functionality. The hospital’s large medical warehouse, along with supplies provided by WHO and partners, has burnt down, and the warehouse for day-to-day medical supplies is partly damaged. The WHO-supported limb reconstruction center, housed within the hospital, is no longer operational. These are tragic developments that will further limit access to health care in a context where needs continue to soar.
The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza’s health system. Facilities in the south are already operating well beyond maximum capacity and are barely able to receive more patients.
WHO repeats its calls for the protection of patients, health workers, health infrastructure, and civilians. Hospitals must not be militarized, misused, or attacked.
WHO reiterates its calls for all parties to uphold international humanitarian law and the principles of precaution, distinction, and proportionality, and to ensure sustained access so hospitals can continue providing lifesaving care.
Children’s lives threatened by rising malnutrition in the Gaza Strip
The situation is especially serious in the north, where 1 in 6 children under the age of 2 is acutely malnourished
19 February 2024, A steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women in the Gaza strip poses grave threats to their health, according to a comprehensive new analysis released by the Global Nutrition Cluster.
As the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip enters its 20th week, food and safe water have become incredibly scarce and diseases are rife, compromising women and children’s nutrition and immunity and resulting in a surge of acute malnutrition.
The report “Nutrition Vulnerability and Situation Analysis - Gaza” – finds that the situation is particularly extreme in the Northern Gaza Strip, which has been almost completely cut off from aid for weeks. Nutrition screenings conducted at shelters and health centres in the north found that 15.6 per cent – or 1 in 6 children under 2 years of age – are acutely malnourished. Of these, almost 3 per cent suffer from severe wasting, the most life-threatening form of malnutrition, which puts young children at highest risk of medical complications and death unless they receive urgent treatment. As the data were collected in January, the situation is likely to be even graver today.
Similar screenings in the Southern Gaza Strip, in Rafah, where aid has been more available, found 5 per cent of children under 2 years are acutely malnourished. This is clear evidence that access to humanitarian aid is needed and can help prevent the worst outcomes. It also reinforces agencies’ calls to protect Rafah from the threat of intensified military operations.
“The Gaza Strip is poised to witness an explosion in preventable child deaths which would compound the already unbearable level of child deaths in Gaza,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, Ted Chaiban. “We’ve been warning for weeks that the Gaza Strip is on the brink of a nutrition crisis. If the conflict doesn’t end now, children’s nutrition will continue to plummet, leading to preventable deaths or health issues which will affect the children of Gaza for the rest of their lives and have potential intergenerational consequences.”
Before the recent months’ hostilities, wasting in the Gaza Strip was rare with just 0.8 per cent of children under 5 years of age acutely malnourished. The rate of 15.6 percent of wasting among children under 2 in Northern Gaza suggests a serious and rapid decline. Such a decline in a population’s nutritional status in three months is unprecedented globally.
There is a high risk that malnutrition will continue to rise across the Gaza Strip due to the alarming lack of food, water and health and nutrition services:
- 90 per cent of children under the age of 2 and 95 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women face severe food poverty – meaning they have consumed two or less food groups in the previous day – and the food they do have access to is of the lowest nutritional value.
- 95 per cent of households are limiting meals and portion sizes, with 64 per cent of households eating only one meal a day.
- Over 95 per cent of households said they had restricted the amount of food adults received in order to ensure small children had food to eat.
“The steep rise in malnutrition that we are seeing in Gaza is dangerous and entirely preventable”, said WFP Assistant Executive Director for Programme Operations, Valerie Guarnieri. “Children and women, in particular, need continuous access to healthy foods, clean water and health and nutrition services. For that to happen, we need decisive improvements on security and humanitarian access, and additional entry points for aid to enter Gaza.”
Inadequate safe drinking water, as well as insufficient water for cooking and hygiene purposes, are compounding poor nutrition. On average, households surveyed had access to less than one litre of safe water per person per day. According to humanitarian standards, the minimum amount of safe water needed in an emergency is 3 litres per person per day, while the overall standard is 15 litres per person, which includes sufficient quantities for drinking, washing and cooking.
Hungry, thirsty and weak, more Gazans are falling sick. The report finds at least 90 per cent of children under 5 are affected by one or more infectious disease. Seventy per cent had diarrhoea in the past two weeks, a 23-fold increase compared with the 2022 baseline.
“Hunger and disease are a deadly combination,” said Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme. ”Hungry, weakened and deeply traumatised children are more likely to get sick, and children who are sick, especially with diarrhea, cannot absorb nutrients well. It’s dangerous, and tragic, and happening before our eyes.”
Without more humanitarian assistance, the nutritional situation is likely to continue to deteriorate rapidly and at scale across the Gaza Strip. With the majority of health, water and sanitation services severely degraded, it is essential that those that remain functional are protected and reinforced to stem the spread of diseases and stop malnutrition from worsening.
UNICEF, WFP and WHO call for safe, unimpeded and sustained access to urgently deliver multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance throughout the Gaza Strip. This includes nutritious foods, nutrition supplies and essential services for malnourished and at-risk children and women to safely access health and nutrition care and treatment services, particularly infants and young children under 5. Hospitals and health workers must be protected from attack so they can safely provide critical treatment and care. An immediate humanitarian ceasefire continues to provide the best chance to save lives and end suffering.
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Note to the editor
Due to security and access challenges throughout the Gaza Strip, it is nearly impossible to collect anthropometric data to measure rates of acute malnutrition. Collection of anthropometric data (MUAC) was only possible in two areas (North Gaza and Rafah) among children under 2 years of age. The report therefore used an innovative method of analysis to support this data and determine that acute malnutrition is rising throughout the Gaza Strip. This method analyzed data on the drivers of malnutrition – lack of food, rates of disease, lack of access to clean water and lack of available health services – which was collected through telephone and SMS questionnaires. From analyzing the key causes, we can conclude that acute malnutrition is rising throughout Gaza at speed.
About UNICEF
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About WFP
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