19 June 2014 – The Ministry of Health of the Kurdistan Region of lraq is reporting critical shortages in medicines and is requesting WHO support in the provision of urgently needed supplies. More than 250 000 Syrian refugees are currently being hosted in the Kurdistan region, and the recent violence in the Ninewa, Salaheddin and Diyala provinces has led to the arrival of an additional 300 000 internally displaced persons. Regular supplies of medicines and vaccines usually received from the central Government of lraq in Baghdad have been halted since the violence began due to insecurity and blocked roads.
Since the crisis began, WHO has provided the directorates of health in Dohuk and Erbil with medical supplies for mobile clinics, as well as interagency emergency health kits for 20 000 people, trauma kits for the treatment of 200 people and diarrhoeal disease kits for the treatment of 200 people.
