WHO responding to unprecedented scale of humanitarian emergencies
GENEVA. KAZINFORM For the first time ever, WHO is leading the health response to five major humanitarian crises at the same time. More than 60 million people, from West Africa to Iraq, urgently require a wide range of health-care services.
West Africa's Ebola outbreak, and conflict-enflamed humanitarian crises in South Sudan, Central African Republic, Syria and Iraq, have stretched health services to the limit and caused many to collapse. This has required WHO and its health partners to fill increasingly widening gaps to ensure life-saving and routine care for millions of displaced persons and host communities, the WHO's press service said.
"We are dealing with an unprecedented number of multiple humanitarian health crises concurrently. These are more complex and affecting more people than at any point since the end of the Second World War," says Dr Bruce Aylward, Assistant Director-General of WHO's Polio and Emergencies Cluster. Five highest level crises The 5 crises have, due to their scale and the emergency health response required, each been categorized as Grade 3 (G3) emergencies, the highest grading determined by WHO as part of its Emergency Response Framework. The ERF grades emergencies across three levels, with Grade 3 being the most serious. The scale of the emergencies is stark, including: • West Africa Ebola outbreak 22 million people living in the three worst-affected countries - Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea - are at risk. • Iraq 20 million people affected, including 1.8 million who are internally displaced. • Syria 10.8 million people inside Syria, including 6.5 million people displaced within the country. Another 3 million people have fled the conflict to regional neighbours Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Egypt. • South Sudan 5.8 million people need humanitarian assistance, including 1.3 million who have been displaced. • Central African Republic 2.5 million people are in need, including 425 000 displaced. "Just two years ago, WHO developed the Emergency Response Framework (ERF) to guide our response in all types of emergencies," explains Dr Aylward. "The ERF ensures that the full resources of the organization are made available to support the response to the most severe crises."