health Archives - Page 3 of 8

‘Hospitals have become battlegrounds’: Gaza’s health system on brink of collapse

·January 5, 2025·2 min read

In a Security Council meeting on Friday, Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, World Health Organization (WHO) representative for the West Bank and Gaza, painted a grim picture of the situation, emphasising that over 25 per cent of the 105,000 injured civilians now face life-changing injuries. “At the current rate, it would take five...

MIDDLE EAST CRISIS LIVE: Security Council holds emergency meeting on collapse of Gaza health system

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·January 3, 2025·1 min read

The UN Security Council met on Friday morning in New York to debate the collapse of health services in Gaza. The meeting was called by Algeria, the leading voice for the Arab world on the Council which has just taken the gavel as president for the month of January. Senior...

Health needs in Syria worsen amid winter conditions

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·December 28, 2024·1 min read

It also cited rising cases of respiratory illnesses, compounded by inadequate heating, overcrowded camps and damaged infrastructure. “There is continuous significant rise in influenza-like illnesses (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infections (SARI), since the beginning of winter with subsequent rise in hospital visits and heightened public health concerns,” the Health...

Syria: UN health agency launches $56.4 million appeal to meet critical needs

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·December 24, 2024·1 min read

In addition, the developments since late November, culminating with the overthrow of the Assad regime added new dimensions to the crisis, including population displacements as well as return of Syrian refugees from neighbouring countries. Since November 2024, over 882,000 Syrians have been displaced amid surging violence, further straining the country’s...

Avian flu reported in 108 countries across five continents, says UN health agency

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·December 18, 2024·1 min read

In an update on the mutating virus – known as H5N1 – Dr. Madhur Dhingra from the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO, said that it had “spilled over into wildlife”. More than 500 bird species have been infected along with at least 70 mammalian species, including the endangered California condor...

Underinvestment threatens universal health coverage goals

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·December 13, 2024·1 min read

The report, titled Global Spending on Health: Emerging from the Pandemic, shows a reduction in per capita government health expenditures in 2022 across all income groups, following a surge during the early COVID-19 pandemic years. This concerning trend undermines progress toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC), a goal enshrined in the...

$1.4 billion needed for sexual and reproductive health services in crisis-hit countries

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·December 5, 2024·1 min read

The funding will be used to deliver life-saving reproductive health services and vital gender-based violence prevention programmes to more than 45 million people. The appeal comes as an estimated 11 million pregnant women will require urgent support in 2025. Record displacement and devastation UNFPA recalled that global crises displaced a record...

Afghanistan: Surge in synthetic drugs could threaten public health

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·November 29, 2024·1 min read

The Mapping of Facilities for Treatment of Substance Use Disorders in Afghanistan report, conducted in collaboration with the UN Development Programme (UNDP), is the first comprehensive survey of the country’s treatment capacity. While services are operational in 32 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, systemic barriers – especially for women – severely...

Lebanon crisis: Health workers and facilities ‘targeted or hit’

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·October 10, 2024·2 min read

The UN aid coordination office, OCHA, reported that ambulances and relief centres had been “targeted or hit in Lebanon, causing further casualties”, adding that the UN health agency WHO and health partners have continued to deliver life-saving surgical supplies to frontline health workers. International humanitarian law provides special protection for...

End ‘collective amnesia’ over COVID-19, says UN health agency WHO

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·October 9, 2024·2 min read

Coronaviruses like COVID, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) “must be taken seriously” as they are particularly dangerous for at-risk groups including the elderly, pregnant women and people suffering from existing or chronic illness, WHO Europe insisted, as it launched a region-wide protection campaign. “Collective amnesia on COVID-19 has set...

WHO highlights mental health crisis facing Israel’s frontline workers a year after 7 October attack

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·October 7, 2024·3 min read

Responders including ambulance drivers, health workers and forensic teams who identified many of the dead, all witnessed “carnage and horror” which resulted in lasting trauma. An organization named Mashiv Ha’Ruach, which means “Bringing back the spirit”, provided mental health and psychosocial support through workshop retreats supported by WHO/Europe. These sessions...

Health teams brave war conditions in Sudan to save newborn babies

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·September 15, 2024·4 min read

Under shelling and gunfire, Esraa cradled her newborn son. As the war in Sudan broke out in April 2023, she was trying to reach a health clinic for treatment for her baby, who had been struggling with infections and breathing difficulties. But with the roads blocked by fighting, the young...