Témoignages

Les enfants seront plus exposés aux phénomènes météo extrêmes

2021-09-29T10:23:10Z

Les enfants nés en 2020 seront beaucoup plus fréquemment exposés à des phénomènes météorologiques extrêmes que leurs grands-parents, particulièrement dans les pays à faible revenu, d'après une étude dirigée par la Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB).

Cette étude a été publié dans la revue "Science". Pour cela, les chercheurs ont calculé l'exposition aux phénomènes climatiques extrêmes au cours de toute une vie pour chaque génération née entre 1960 et 2020, dans chaque pays du monde et pour chaque scénario de réchauffement compris entre 1 et 3,5°C au dessus du niveau préindustriel.

Un garçon couvert de cendres volcaniques sur les plages de Mindanao, Philippines. août 2016

Sur la base des données des politiques climatiques actuelles, les résultats montrent qu'un enfant né en 2020 subira en moyenne près de trois fois plus de crues de rivières et sept fois plus de canicules qu'une personne née en 1960.

Ainsi, les nouveaux-nés connaîtront près de trois fois plus d'incendies de forêts et de mauvaises récoltes que leurs grands-parents. Ces chiffres cachent d'importantes disparités entre les régions du monde, soulignant une injustice climatique géographique et intergénérationnelle.

"Alors que 53 millions d'enfants nés en Europe et en Asie centrale depuis 2016 connaîtront environ quatre fois plus de phénomènes climatiques extrêmes, 172 millions d'enfants du même âge en Afrique subsaharienne seront presque six fois plus exposés au cours de leur vie aux événements extrêmes, avec même 50 fois plus de vagues de chaleur", selon l'étude.

"Les résultats montrent une menace sérieuse pour la sécurité des jeunes générations et appellent à des réductions drastiques des émissions de gaz à effet de serre pour assurer leur avenir", a affirmé le professeur à la VUB et auteur principal de l'étude Wim Thiery.

"Limiter le réchauffement planétaire à 1,5°C, plutôt que de tenir les promesses actuelles, permettrait de réduire considérablement l'exposition supplémentaire des nouveau-nés aux vagues de chaleur extrêmes, aux incendies de forêt, aux mauvaises récoltes, aux sécheresses, aux cyclones tropicaux et aux inondations fluviales", a ajouté le professeur Yuri Rogelj, expert en climatologie à l'Imperial College de Londres et co-auteur de l'étude.

"Ce message est cependant plus contrasté pour les jeunes des pays pauvres, où des extrêmes sont possibles même avec les politiques climatiques les plus ambitieuses", a ajouté ce dernier.

Helen Clark : 'I welcome Pope Francis' very important contribution'

2015-06-19T13:18:18Z

Statement by UNDP administrator Helen Clark on Pope Francis encyclical on environment and the poor

I welcome Pope Francis' very important contribution to the climate change debate through his encyclical on the environment and the poor.

The poor and the marginalized in our societies are the ones who are the most vulnerable to climate change, and are also the ones hardest hit by its impacts.

UNDP works with developing countries to avoid what Pope Francis describes as an "economy of exclusion," and strives to enable progress and growth which benefits everyone.

As we look forward later this year to the creation of sustainable development goals and the expected climate change agreement, we must seize this once in a generation opportunity to chart a new course for sustainable development which benefits everyone and protects our planet.

WHO responds to health needs caused by Cyclone Pam

2015-03-16T13:26:04Z

The World Health Organization (WHO) in the Western Pacific Region is coordinating response efforts with Vanuatu's Ministry of Health and other humanitarian partners to bring much-needed health support to the Pacific island country, following the devastation caused by Cyclone Pam.

Photo Care Australia

The cyclone ravaged Vanuatu on 13–14 March with winds of more than 250 kilometres per hour and one-metre storm surges. While damage is still being assessed, there are reports of deaths and serious injuries, destroyed homes, and limited or no access to health services, food and clean water in many places.

“We are working closely with our partners to get the people of Vanuatu what they need as quickly as possible to respond to this devastating cyclone,” said Dr Shin Young-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific. “We have activated our emergency operations centre and put a support team in place to assess needs and deploy critical resources to help in the response.”

WHO is sending health and emergency response experts with supplies to Vanuatu to assist in the response. WHO is also communicating with the governments of Australia and New Zealand, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other organizations, to ensure Vanuatu gets the right resources to meet their health needs. WHO and UNICEF are also working with the Ministry of Health to conduct an immunization campaign in response to a measles outbreak that began before the cyclone.

Complicating response efforts, the cyclone caused roads blocked with debris, knocked down bridges, and flooding. Electricity is out in many places and phones and Internet systems are down or are unreliable. The extent of the damage continues to be assessed.

Disaster-prone Madagascar battles flooding and drought

2015-03-06T08:09:01Z

Authorities in Madagascar are struggling to respond to increasingly severe flooding in the central highlands region of the country that includes the capital, Antananarivo, in addition to a prolonged drought in the south.

The latest round of flooding, which started when three rivers that cross Antananarivo – the Sisaony, Ikopa and Imamba – burst their banks during a storm on 24 February, has left 19 people dead and an estimated 36,000 displaced, according to the National Office for the Management of Risks and Catastrophes (BNRGC in French). A further 40,000 people were displaced in 13 other districts.

On Wednesday, BNRGC issued a new alert warning that a low-pressure system just off the island's west coast was expected to bring more torrential rainfall to the central highlands region. Several neighbourhoods in Antananarivo remain braced for further flooding and landslides over the coming days.

The current flooding adds to the many challenges already facing the city in the wake of Tropical Storm Chezda, which caused 68 deaths and almost 80,000 displacements across Madagascar - over 16,000 in Antananarivo alone - during the weekend of 17 January. In the aftermath, several of the city's public spaces, such as sports stadia, have been providing temporary shelter for the displaced.

Antananarivo's topography means the heavy rains have had varying impacts on different parts of the capital. While residents of lower lying areas like Soavina have had to contend with waist-high gushing waters, the city's hillier areas have experienced landslides and significant infrastructural damage.

BNRGC has issued a warning for landslides in several locations. The agency's staff have been going door-to-door warning residents in affected areas to examine their homes for cracks or other signs of damage.

Many of the worst affected are the city's poorest residents who violated city planning policy by constructing their houses in riverside areas prone to cyclical flooding during the high plateau's December to April rainy season.

The National Assembly has organised a telethon to collect donations from members of the public while also asking for more support from the international community. City residents have also been mobilising to assist those affected by the flooding with various church groups calling for donations.

Meanwhile, southern areas of this vast Indian Ocean island have been enduring a protracted drought. The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which is supporting the national response, estimates that 80,000 people are in need of urgent food assistance. However, an additional US$3 to $4 million is needed to respond and the funding gap is expected to increase in the coming weeks.

IRIN

WHO calls for stronger action on climate-related health risks

2014-08-27T12:17:48Z

Previously unrecognized health benefits could be realized from fast action to reduce climate change and its consequences. For example, changes in energy and transport policies could save millions of lives annually from diseases caused by high levels of air pollution. The right energy and transport policies could also reduce the burden of disease associated with physical inactivity and traffic injury.

Measures to adapt to climate change could also save lives around the world by ensuring that communities are better prepared to deal with the impact of heat, extreme weather, infectious disease and food insecurity.

These are two key messages being discussed at the first-ever global conference on health and climate, which opens today at the World Health Organization (WHO) headquarters in Geneva. The conference brings together over 300 participants, including government ministers, heads of UN agencies, urban leaders, civil society and leading health, climate and sustainable-development experts.

The health sector needs to act quickly and assertively to promote climate-smart strategies, climate and health experts warn.

“The evidence is overwhelming: climate change endangers human health,” says Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General. “Solutions exist and we need to act decisively to change this trajectory.”

WHO and its partners highlight the importance of acting now to help protect health in the present as well as the future. The health community is working hard to improve its capacity for surveillance and control of infectious diseases such as cholera, malaria and dengue, which are highly sensitive to weather and climate.

Climate change is already causing tens of thousands of deaths every year from shifting patterns of disease, from extreme weather events, such as heat-waves and floods, and from the degradation of water supplies, sanitation, and impacts on agriculture, according to the most recent WHO data.

"Vulnerable populations, the poor, the disadvantaged and children are among those suffering the greatest burden of climate-related impacts and consequent diseases, such as malaria, diarrhoea and malnutrition, which already kill millions every year”, notes Dr Flavia Bustreo, WHO Assistant Director-General, Family, Women's and Children's Health. “Without effective action to mitigate and adapt to the adverse effects of climate change on health, society will face one of its most serious health challenges,” she says.

“But the good news is that reducing climate change can yield substantial and immediate health benefits” says Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Public Health, Environmental and Social Determinants of Health. “The most powerful example is air pollution, which in 2012 was responsible for 7 million deaths - one in eight of all deaths worldwide. There is now solid evidence that mitigating climate change can greatly reduce this toll,” she adds.

The conference aims to pave the way for careful consideration of health and climate issues in the upcoming UN Climate Summit, being organized by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2014.

Climate change: The race to adapt

2014-07-04T08:21:58Z

Momina Ali is a teenager in one of the toughest and hottest places on earth - Ethiopia's Afar region where average annual temperatures hover around 35 degrees Celsius. Increasingly intermittent rainfall in her village, Anderkelo, means that every three or four days Momina takes a day off school to search for water. In future the chances are that Momina's treks for water could take even longer, depending on how rising temperatures affect the rains around her village and hence its water table. An Irinnews report.

In 2015 global policymakers aim to take decisions which may affect the futures of people like Momina. The outcome of the December 2015 UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in Paris, new development goals, and the successor to the Hyogo framework on natural hazards will be key.

The climate deal will only be implemented in 2020, according to an agreement countries adopted in Durban in 2011. It will be the culmination of almost two decades of international negotiations. But before that can happen, a draft deal needs to be prepared for the penultimate UNFCCC conference (COP20) in Lima, Peru, in December 2014.

“In an ideal world, the deal would be based on the premise that the biggest polluters agree to shoulder the greatest share of global emissions' cuts, and commit to providing finance to support countries most affected by climate change - though presently governments are still a long way from agreeing to anything this ambitious or fair,” said Sven Harmeling, Care International climate change advocacy coordinator.

One crucial element involves discussions about how much money will be provided by each developed country to help poorer countries like Ethiopia adapt to higher temperatures and erratic rains. The deal, if most poor countries have their way, should help Momina's village access technology that could: make it easier to find water closer to home; provide early drought or other warnings; and open up new channels of support to help tackle climate-related losses, for instance, if people need to migrate.

A key question is how much each country would be willing to cut back on its greenhouse gas emissions to keep global temperature rise to less than 1.5 degrees by the turn of the century.

“Momina, in all probability will have to move,” said scientist Saleemul Huq, a senior research fellow with the International Institute for Environment and Development and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). “An increase in temperature over the next 20 to 30 years has already been locked in, regardless of the outcome in Paris on reducing emissions. People like Momina who are living on the edge will have to move in less than a decade.”

But her family can hope to get some compensation for the “loss and damage” to their lives on account of rising temperatures should an appropriate decision be taken in Paris, said Huq. The decision on how much to cut emissions will have a long-term impact on the earth “beyond 50 years, to a 100 years”, he said.

IRIN surveys progress hitherto in relation to climate change and vulnerable communities.

Adaptation support

The need for a regular flow of adequate funds and technological support for adaptation has been an emotionally fraught issue in the negotiations.

Some developing countries are considering including pledges on their planned adaptation actions in their intended Nationally Determined Contributions (iNDCs), the primary focus of which will be the amount of emissions they intend to cut beyond 2020. Many countries are stressing the importance of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), which will form the basis for drawing funds from rich countries.

The proposal by the African Group, to establish a global adaptation goal which would ensure adaptation support is provided based on expected levels of global warming, would be a positive step, said Harmeling.

"The promise of finance for adaptation is like the perpetually-dangling carrot that the developing countries can never reach no matter how much they do. They are being made to look like donkeys by the rich nations who have demanded adaptation policies, plans, and actions, but have reneged on their promise to pay for it," said Harjeet Singh of ActionAid.

Agriculture

Support for agriculture, which is seen both as a victim and a cause of climate change, is another vexed issue.

Agriculture is the cause of emissions of particularly damaging greenhouses gases, such as nitrous oxide and methane. The IPCC estimated in 2007 that agriculture accounted for 13.5 percent of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The latest IPCC assessment (dated 2014) bunches emissions from agriculture and forestry and other changes in land-use such as deforestation and says they account for 25 percent of man-made emissions.

But climate change also threatens agriculture, which most developing countries' populations rely on for income, and global food security. The 2014 IPCC assessment indicates that where local temperatures rise beyond one degree Celsius, yields of major staples such as wheat, rice and maize will drop by up to 2 percent per decade from 2030 onwards; and rising temperatures and erratic rains will contribute to an increase in food prices of up to 85 percent by 2050. Many poor farmers are already experiencing the impact of increasingly variable rainfall.

Some at the UN talks emphasize the need to reduce agriculture-related emissions.
However, "some groups are concerned that a focus on the ability of soils to temporarily absorb carbon could lead to new carbon land grabs' by greedy investors interested in carbon trading. Rich countries cannot shift their mitigation responsibilities to small farmers in poor countries, because they have done the least to cause the problem, and they need the most help to adapt," said Singh. Developing countries argue that they need more money and better technology to help farmers adapt to climate change. As a compromise, a separate programme was created for agriculture under the UNFCCC's Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technological Advice (SBSTA). Most of the conclusions under this programme have been on adaptation for agriculture, said Harmeling. They include “development of early warning systems and contingency plans in relation to extreme weather events and its effects such as desertification, drought, floods, landslides, storm surge, soil erosion, and saline water intrusion”. {{{Loss and damage }}} For poor countries "loss and damage" incurred as a result of a changing climate - with citizens forced to relocate or compromise their cultural identity and human dignity - are crucial issues. A mechanism to address loss and damage associated with climate change impacts was established at the last COP in Warsaw in 2013, but progress has been slow. Developing country negotiators are concerned that the mechanism should not end up an empty shell but be given technical and financial teeth to support vulnerable communities, while concurrently tackling the causes and consequences of loss and damage, said Harmeling. Countries have been asked to provide their input on what specific actions the mechanism should begin to address next year. Agreeing on a work plan on the mechanism, as well as on how to build it up further will be a key decision for COP20. Harmeling believes, however, that the issue will be strongly contested. "Let us remember that Loss and Damage is a litmus test of successful actions on mitigation and adaptation. Decades of inaction have led to unavoidable loss and damage which countries are facing now, and will face even more if we don't act quickly," said Singh. Money is simply not going to be enough to help people like Momina, said scientist Koko Warner, section head of environmental migration, social resilience, and adaptation at the UN University. “Whatever the outcome of Paris, IPCC findings indicate thatthere is no guard rail' for the earth´s climate systems…”

The new IPCC assessment finds that “climate change poses a moderate threat for current sustainable development, and a serious threat to sustainable development in the future,” she adds. “Momina won´t be saved by Paris. Paris will set a critical signal and will hopefully be a watershed in international cooperation and will. But it will take multi-level, serious, consistent transformation of the world´s energy systems and adaptation at a scale not yet seen to avoid irreparable loss and damage.”

There is a growing recognition among scientists that as the earth faces an unprecedented rate of warming we will be, or are already being, exposed to situations to which we will be unable to adjust or adapt.

IPCC Report: A changing climate creates pervasive risks but opportunities exist for effective responses

2014-03-31T09:26:20Z

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued a report today that says the effects of climate change are already occurring on all continents and across the oceans. The world, in many cases, is ill-prepared for risks from a changing climate. The report also concludes that there are opportunities to respond to such risks, though the risks will be difficult to manage with high levels of warming.

The report, titled Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from Working Group II of the IPCC, details the impacts of climate change to date, the future risks from a changing climate, and the opportunities for effective action to reduce risks. A total of 309 coordinating lead authors, lead authors, and review editors, drawn from 70 countries, were selected to produce the report. They enlisted the help of 436 contributing authors, and a total of 1,729 expert and government reviewers.

The report concludes that responding to climate change involves making choices about risks in a changing world. The nature of the risks of climate change is increasingly clear, though climate change will also continue to produce surprises. The report identifies vulnerable people, industries, and ecosystems around the world. It finds that risk from a changing climate comes from vulnerability (lack of preparedness) and exposure (people or assets in harm's way) overlapping with hazards (triggering climate events or trends). Each of these three components can be a target for smart actions to decrease risk.

“We live in an era of man-made climate change,” said Vicente Barros, Co-Chair of Working Group II. “In many cases, we are not prepared for the climate-related risks that we already face. Investments in better preparation can pay dividends both for the present and for the future.”

Adaptation to reduce the risks from a changing climate is now starting to occur, but with a stronger focus on reacting to past events than on preparing for a changing future, according to Chris Field, Co-Chair of Working Group II.
“Climate-change adaptation is not an exotic agenda that has never been tried. Governments, firms, and communities around the world are building experience with adaptation,” Field said. “This experience forms a starting point for bolder, more ambitious adaptations that will be important as climate and society continue to change.”

Future risks from a changing climate depend strongly on the amount of future climate change. Increasing magnitudes of warming increase the likelihood of severe and pervasive impacts that may be surprising or irreversible.

“With high levels of warming that result from continued growth in greenhouse gas emissions, risks will be challenging to manage, and even serious, sustained investments in adaptation will face limits,” said Field.

Observed impacts of climate change have already affected agriculture, human health, ecosystems on land and in the oceans, water supplies, and some people's livelihoods. The striking feature of observed impacts is that they are occurring from the tropics to the poles, from small islands to large continents, and from the wealthiest countries to the poorest.

“The report concludes that people, societies, and ecosystems are vulnerable around the world, but with different vulnerability in different places. Climate change often interacts with other stresses to increase risk,” Field said.

Adaptation can play a key role in decreasing these risks, Barros noted. “Part of the reason adaptation is so important is that the world faces a host of risks from climate change already baked into the climate system, due to past emissions and existing infrastructure,” said Barros.

Field added: “Understanding that climate change is a challenge in managing risk opens a wide range of opportunities for integrating adaptation with economic and social development and with initiatives to limit future warming. We definitely face challenges, but understanding those challenges and tackling them creatively can make climate-change adaptation an important way to help build a more vibrant world in the near-term and beyond.”

Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the IPCC, said: “The Working Group II report is another important step forward in our understanding of how to reduce and manage the risks of climate change. Along with the reports from Working Group I and Working Group III, it provides a conceptual map of not only the essential features of the climate challenge but the options for solutions.”

The Working Group I report was released in September 2013, and the Working Group III report will be released in April 2014. The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report cycle concludes with the publication of its Synthesis Report in October 2014.

“None of this would be possible without the dedication of the Co-Chairs of Working Group II and the hundreds of scientists and experts who volunteered their time to produce this report, as well as the more than 1,700 expert reviewers worldwide who contributed their invaluable oversight,” Pachauri said. “The IPCC's reports are some of the most ambitious scientific undertakings in human history, and I am humbled by and grateful for the contributions of everyone who make them possible."

Pneumonia Still Responsible For One Fifth Of Child Deaths

2013-11-12T07:00:40Z

On 5th World Pneumonia Day, global health bodies highlight essential interventions that will help reduce burden of disease.

GENEVA, 12 November 2013 – Pneumonia remains the single biggest killer of children under five globally, claiming the lives of more than one million girls and boys every year. But pneumonia deaths are preventable.

As countries mark World Pneumonia Day on 12 November, the GAVI Alliance, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) are highlighting essential actions that can help end child deaths from this disease.

“Every 30 seconds, a child younger than five dies of pneumonia. This is a great shame as we know what it takes to prevent children from dying of this illness,” says Dr Mickey Chopra, Chief of Health, UNICEF. “Tackling pneumonia doesn't necessarily need complicated solutions.”

Many factors contribute to pneumonia, and no single intervention can effectively prevent, treat and control it. Five simple but effective interventions, if implemented properly, will help reduce the burden of the disease that is responsible for almost one fifth of all child deaths around the world.

These are:
· Exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months and continued breastfeeding complemented by nutritious solid foods up to age 2;
· Vaccination against whooping cough (pertussis), measles, Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) and pneumococcus;
· Safe drinking water, sanitation and handwashing facilities;
· Improved cooking stoves to reduce indoor air pollution;
· Treatment, including amoxicillin dispersible tablets and oxygen;

The theme of World Pneumonia Day 2013 is “Innovate to End Child Pneumonia”. Recognizing that child mortality cannot be addressed in a vacuum, but only through integrated efforts, in April 2013, WHO and UNICEF released an Integrated Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Pneumonia and Diarrhoea (GAPPD).

The GAPPD presents an innovative framework bringing together prevention, protection and control of both pneumonia and diarrhoea – two of the world's leading killers of children under 5 - to make more efficient and effective use of scarce health resources.

To mark 5th World Pneumonia Day, Mauritania and Papua New Guinea are today introducing the pneumococcal vaccine, which protects against one of the leading causes of pneumonia. With support from the GAVI Alliance, more than 50 countries will introduce this vaccine by 2015.

“The GAVI Alliance is helping to accelerate the fight against pneumonia by increasing access to pneumococcal vaccines, thanks to GAVI's innovative Advance Market Commitment (AMC), but also to the five-in-one pentavalent vaccine which protects against Haemophilus influenzae type b, another major cause of pneumonia,” says Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of the GAVI Alliance.

Since the launch of the GAPPD seven months ago, several countries have taken this forward. For example, Bangladesh and Zambia are translating the GAPPD into local implementation plans in some districts. Programme managers responsible for immunisation, child health, nutrition and water and sanitation have joined forces to accelerate progress and eliminate preventable deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea.

In addition, in October 2013, WHO published new technical advice for countries:
· Based on a review of the latest evidence, guidelines on the treatment of pneumonia were updated, recommending simpler antibiotic regimens.
· A handbook to guide district and health facility staff on how to introduce the pneumococcal vaccine emphasizes using new vaccine introductions to scale up access to other essential interventions to protect, prevent and treat pneumonia, in line with the GAPPD.

“To achieve the vision and goals of the integrated plan—to end preventable deaths from pneumonia and diarrhoea in the next generation—the children of the world need to see political will, coordinated efforts, and increased resources at the global and national levels to fight these stubborn killers,” says Dr Elizabeth Mason, Director of WHO's Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health.

WHO supporting Philippines Government with arrival of medical supplies after Typhoon Haiyan

2013-11-12T06:54:47Z

Field hospitals, medical personnel, medicines and other medical supplies are arriving in the Philippines as countries and nongovernmental organizations around the world come to the support of the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan. In support of the Government of the Philippines, the World Health Organization (WHO) is coordinating all health-related aspects of the emergency response to ensure the supplies are moved quickly to where health facilities and supplies are most damaged, such as Tacloban, Cebu and the west coast of Leyte.

WHO and its staff are working around the clock to support the Government in coordinating the incoming relief supplies from more than 30 international humanitarian health organizations to ensure there is minimum duplication of materials and medicines arriving at any one location, and that hospitals, personnel and supplies get as quickly as possible to those places where they are needed most.

Within three days of Typhoon Haiyan hitting the Philippines, field hospitals with medical teams from Belgium, Japan, Israel and Norway are currently on the ground. More teams from Australia and Germany are expected today and tomorrow. Other country governments and nongovernmental organizations that have pledged their support include: Canada, Finland, Indonesia, Hungary, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, and Viet Nam. The field hospitals will be set up at locations where local hospitals have been destroyed. They are fully self-sufficient—bringing all of their own food, water, electricity, medical supplies and personnel.

The health needs in this disaster are significant. In addition to responding to injuries and trauma, “regular” health needs will also need to be met in very challenging circumstances. For instance, it is expected that 12 000 babies will be born this month in the affected areas. People with noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes or heart disease will need to continue receiving their regular medication. WHO is working with the Government and partners to provide necessary assistance.

WHO has already deployed medicines and supplies to perform 400 surgeries and cover the basic health needs of 120 000 people for one month. Special diarrhoeal disease kits with medicines and supplies to treat 3000 cases of acute diarrhoea are also en route, since contaminated water is a frequent cause of diarrhoea.

With another tropical storm expected to hit the Philippines later this week, the need for safe water and sanitation facilities is critical. WHO is working with other humanitarian organizations to secure urgently needed water purification tablets.

Crowded living conditions and contaminated drinking water can lead to the spread of infectious diseases which can exacerbate health problems. The key is catching these diseases early before they can spread. WHO is also helping the Government to strengthen its early warning alert and response network (EWARN) to rapidly detect disease outbreaks and other public health threats.

Typhoon Haiyan : WHO Responding to Health Needs

2013-11-11T09:50:34Z

The World Health Organization (WHO) has activated an organization-wide mobilization to work closely with the Department of Health, Philippines (DoH) to organize relief efforts for the survivors of Typhoon Haiyan.

The typhoon—locally known as Yolanda—ravaged the central part of the archipelago Friday morning with winds reaching speeds of more than 250 km per hour causing storm surges of up to 5 metres. Many people living in these affected areas were injured and the devastating effects of this typhoon left already vulnerable health facilities damaged or completely destroyed. As a result of the breadth and severity of the storm, health services in the worst affected areas no longer exist or are severely stretched, with medical supplies in very short supply.

“We are working closely with the Philippine Government and local authorities to assess and rapidly address the life-saving needs of the people affected by this typhoon,” says Dr Julie Hall, WHO Representative to the Philippines. “WHO has an assessment team on the ground in Bohol, and we are sending teams to Cebu and Tacloban with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) teams in support of national response efforts. WHO is flying in more than two dozen health emergency relief experts and emergency health kits for the initial response.”

The Government estimates that some 4.5 million people have been affected in the Central Philippines. WHO is mobilizing supplies to assist the government in providing a coordinated, effective and rapid response:

- An initial shipment of four emergency kits with medicines and supplies to cover basic health needs of 120 000 persons during one month and supplies to perform 400 surgical interventions are being deployed. Four diarrhoeal disease kits with medicines and supplies to treat 3000 cases of acute diarrhoea are also being sent.

- WHO is also supporting the Department of Health (DoH) in strengthening its early warning alert and response network (EWARN) to rapidly detect disease outbreaks and other public health threats related to food and environmental hazards.

- The Government is receiving international assistance such as field hospitals and medical teams, and WHO is working closely with the Government to ensure those supplies and teams go where they are needed most.

- Medical storage spaces have also been damaged, and WHO is working to re-establish logistics bases for new supplies that are arriving.

In the aftermath of the typhoon, reaching the affected areas and people has proven to be a sizeable logistical challenge. The true extent of the death and destruction has yet to be quantified. The super typhoon ripped roofs off houses and uprooted trees, interrupting telecommunications and electricity supplies. Many air- and sea-ports in the affected areas are closed. Until roads are cleared, movement will be difficult in these areas, posing significant logistical challenges to emergency relief operations.

Adding to the complexity of this response, another tropical storm is expected to hit the Philippines later this week. Foreign governments and international aid agencies have already pledged support in the form of air transportation and equipment, but more help is urgently needed to save the lives of the survivors.

WHO's rapid deployment of health experts and supplies to the Philippines has been possible thanks to the financial support for surge capacity provided by numerous international partners, including the European Commission. Due to the magnitude of the disaster, WHO is seeking immediate financial contributions to cover initial response operations. A joint appeal by United Nations and non-governmental organizations will be issued in the coming days.