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About the Eastern Mediterranean Region
The World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for public health within the United Nations system. The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean is one of WHO’s 6 regional offices around the world. It serves the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, which comprises 21 Member States and occupied Palestinian territory (including East Jerusalem), with a population of nearly 745 million people.
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17 August 2016 – More than 20 health workers and patients, including mothers and children, were inside Kafr Hamra Child and Maternity Hospital in Aleppo, Syria, when the facility was hit at 1:00 am on 12 August 2016. 2 health workers and a female patient inside the hospital were killed. Among the 14 injured were nurses, a midwife, female patients and children. Injured children were rescued from under the rubble, where they were trapped as parts of the building collapsed. The hospital is out of service, and thousands of pregnant women and children are now deprived of already limited care.
Yet again, civilians, including women and children, continue to pay the highest price in this conflict. Health facilities, where people go to seek life-saving services, are being turned into graveyards. Hundreds of medical facilities that provide critical care for thousands of people have been damaged or destroyed. More than 60% of all health facilities throughout the country are now partially functional or out of service.
WHO deplores these attacks, and calls on all parties to the conflict to respect international humanitarian laws, and keep health workers, patients and health facilities safe at all times, regardless of geographical location.
Related link
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2286 (2016)
