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While responding to multiple concurrent emergencies in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO has simultaneously extended massive support to 5 countries in the Region affected by climate change in 2022 – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
With environmental and climatic risks responsible for around 23% of the total burden of disease in the Region, “The links between climate change, severe weather events and health are increasingly evident, including drought and floods,” Dr Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said during a recent visit to Sudan. This is one of the 7 countries in the Greater Horn of Africa – along with Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda – affected by severe food insecurity due to drought, a climatic event with devastating consequences on health.
In his opening remarks at the 69th Session of the WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern Mediterranean held in Cairo on 10–13 October 2022, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that, “Even as we respond to the emergency in Pakistan, we must remember that unless we address the existential threat of climate change, we will be responding to emergencies like this and worse more often.”
Atypical floods hit Afghanistan
More than 110 600 people were hit by unexpected floods that affected 33 provinces in Afghanistan, claiming scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries, as well as damaging or destroying more than 14 000 homes and displacing their inhabitants.
The WHO-supported ambulatory system transported victims and survivors to hospitals and provided medical kits to health facilities, including trauma kits to treat the injured. Cholera kits and cholera rapid diagnostic tests were also provided to prepare for possible outbreaks in the aftermath of the floods. In August 2022 alone, WHO trained a total of 600 medical doctors and nurses to ensure proper treatment of patients with acute watery diarrhoea, while continuing to work with partners to scale up support for life-saving health interventions and prepare for any potential infectious disease outbreaks due to the floods.
Risk communication was also enhanced in flood-affected areas to empower communities with prevention messages to protect themselves and their families.
Flash flood washing through Spin Boldak District Hospital, Herat, Afghanistan, 2022. WHO
More than 110 600 people were hit by unexpected floods that affected 33 provinces in Afghanistan, claiming scores of deaths and hundreds of injuries, as well as damaging or destroying more than 14 000 homes and displacing their inhabitants.
The WHO-supported ambulatory system transported victims and survivors to hospitals and provided medical kits to health facilities, including trauma kits to treat the injured. Cholera kits and cholera rapid diagnostic tests were also provided to prepare for possible outbreaks in the aftermath of the floods. In August 2022 alone, WHO trained a total of 600 medical doctors and nurses to ensure proper treatment of patients with acute watery diarrhoea, while continuing to work with partners to scale up support for life-saving health interventions and prepare for any potential infectious disease outbreaks due to the floods.
Risk communication was also enhanced in flood-affected areas to empower communities with prevention messages to protect themselves and their families.
Additional audiovisual material here and here
Over 33 million people were affected and 7 million displaced by catastrophic floods in Pakistan
After torrential floods had devastated Pakistan, waters have started to recede in a number of affected areas over the past few weeks, but enormous volumes of persistent flood waters remain stagnant in many others.
The catastrophe has pushed the country to the brink. Around 8 million flood-affected people need health assistance, including the provision of essential medical supplies and access to basic health care. Among the biggest concerns are the high rates of severe acute malnutrition, as countless crops and stocks were also washed away.
Influxes of internally displaced populations returned to their habitats, only to face an increased risk of disease driven by damaged infrastructure, stagnant water, and inadequate sanitation facilities. Additionally, over one million houses were damaged, leaving millions helpless to face the relentless cold winter.
WHO quickly acted with its partners to deliver essential health services across various priority areas. To date, WHO has distributed medicines and emergency supplies worth US$ 1.5 million; over US$ 6 million worth of supplies is in the pipeline.
WHO scaled up its response through the establishment of 10 emergency operations centres and 3 operational hubs in Sukkur, Hyderabad and Naseerabad districts to strength the management and coordination of the overall health response. WHO also supported strengthening national disease surveillance by establishing the Emergency Disease Surveillance System in cooperation with the Ministry of National Health Services Regulations and Coordination.
Additionally, WHO worked closely with the Government of Pakistan to conduct vaccination campaigns against measles and cholera and helped ensure access to clean water through the establishment of water treatment plants.
In Somalia, famine is looming due to drought
Somalia is currently facing one of the most severe droughts in its history, leading to a looming famine and the possibility of severe loss of life due to hunger, malnutrition and disease. Currently, nearly 8 million people are affected. About 3.5 million persons lack sufficient access to water, and 6 million continue to face severe food shortages – with approximately 1.4 million children suffering acute malnutrition, including 329 500 likely to become severely malnourished. In addition to the 2.5 million already displaced population, over one more million are also displaced as they search for food, water, shelter, health care and any available assistance.
Furthermore, the drought is increasing endemic-prone diseases. As of 31 October 2022, a total of 11 332 suspected cases of cholera, 15 143 cases of measles and 96 063 cases of acute diarrhoeal disease have been confirmed in drought-affected areas.
WHO Representative to Somalia Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik said that, “We are racing against time to try to prevent major outbreaks of cholera or measles. We have seen death and disease thrive during prolonged food crises. We will see more people dying from disease than from hunger and malnutrition combined if we do not act now. The cost of our inaction means that children, women and other vulnerable people will pay with their lives while we hopelessly, helplessly, witness the tragedy unfold. As we have seen during our collective emergency response operations for COVID-19, early action and delivery of high quality and evidence-based interventions can lead to protecting health and well-being, even if the health system is fragile.”
WHO has been able to reach nearly 3.3 million people – about 45% of those in need – with life-saving treatments, essential health and nutrition interventions. These services are being delivered by over 2164 community health workers, 148 mobile outreach teams, 64 stabilization centres and 280 primary health care centres in the drought-affected districts.
Sudan – where 40% of the country was flooded
With 100 localities affected in Sudan’s 18 states, 286 400 people directly hit, 16 900 houses destroyed leading to various health vulnerabilities, 43 800 houses damaged, leading to displacement with consequent poor sanitation and risk of disease, 31 health facilities damaged or destroyed, 1138 latrines damaged, leading to risk of waterborne disease outbreaks, 2150 heads of livestock lost and 12 100 feddans (5100 hectares) of agricultural lands affected, impacting livelihoods, nutrition and health, the fragile country’s situation is indescribably dire.
WHO rapidly delivered massive amounts of medicines and diagnostic kits, provided mobile clinic services, detection, rapid response team training and strengthening of surveillance. WHO also supported the operation of a stabilization centre for severe acute malnutrition, offered operational support to state Ministries of Health for coordination and implementation of preparedness and response plans, provided technical support and participated in field investigation for monkeypox outbreaks.
To monitor and mitigate the impact of the floods, WHO is supporting 39 vector surveillance sentinel sites to detect vector population and guide interventions, and effect larvae source reduction and health promotion activities for aedes mosquito control in affected states. A total of 225 211 water holding containers in 87 057 houses were inspected and managed, in addition to spraying 125 483 houses in areas with high vector indices and clustered dengue cases.
A total of 696 666 mosquito breeding sites were inspected and treated in response to an increase in the number of malaria cases.
Already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, Yemen was not spared by floods
Extensive flooding ravaged several governorates in Yemen, with tens of thousands of people affected across 85 districts in 16 governorates damaging the shelters, livelihoods and water sources of approximately 35 000 households, mostly in displacement sites and settlements.
In urgent response, WHO provided emergency health and laboratory supplies, and joined field missions with national health authorities and other humanitarian partners. WHO supported 4 specialized trauma teams and 6 on-duty ambulances on the ground, as well as set up 34 early warning detection points in Ma’rib – one of the most affected governorates – where thousands of shelters for displaced families were destroyed. Additional essential emergency health supplies were also released to rapid response and emergency medical teams, 5 therapeutic feeding centres were supported, and emergency response kits, additional cholera kits, IV fluids and rapid diagnostic tests for cholera were distributed.
