Category: Medical

A plane carrying 78 cubic metres of health supplies from WHO’s logistics hub in Dubai has landed in Al-Arish airport in Egypt.

The supplies will be delivered to Gaza to meet critical health needs as soon as humanitarian access through the Rafah crossing is established, WHO said in a statement.

Every hour these supplies remain on the Egyptian side of the border, more girls and boys, women, and men, especially those vulnerable or disabled, will die while supplies that can save them are less than 20 kilometers (12 miles) away, WHO pointed out.

The supplies include enough trauma medicines and health supplies to treat 1200 wounded patients and 1500 patients suffering from heart diseases, hypertension, diabetes, and respiratory problems, and basic essential health supplies to serve the needs of 300,000 people, including pregnant women.

They also include trauma pouches with enough medicines and supplies to treat 235 wounded people. With hospitals in Gaza either nonfunctional or overwhelmed, and movement restricted due to fighting, these will enable injured people to be stabilized and receive immediate, lifesaving care anywhere it is needed.

WHO will work with the Egyptian and Palestinian Red Crescent Societies to ensure transportation and delivery of the supplies through Egypt and into Gaza, the organization affirmed.

While the Egyptian side of the crossing is accessible, the Israeli side remains closed.

The critically injured, the sick, and the vulnerable cannot wait. Too many lives have already been lost, the WHO noted

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said that medical teams in hospitals received bodies of 687 martyrs, including 140 children, 105 women, and 3,726 injuries, 10 per cent of whom are children. The Ministry expressed its deep concern about the escalation and continuation of Israeli aggression by the occupation forces and direct attacks on medical facilities and innocent civilians. It confirmed that the medical teams were stationed in the field and had not left their work sites since the beginning of the aggression, despite being targeted, which did not stop them from continuing their moral, humanitarian and patriotic duty towards their people. It noted that the continuing crimes of the occupation caused massacres against 13 families, and these massacres claimed the life of 105 civilians, the largest number of whom are still under the rubble. The ministry added that the Israeli occupation is expanding the scope of targeting medical personnel, health facilities and ambulances, causing the death of 5 health personnel in addition to injuring 10 others. 7 hospitals and health centers were also targeted and large parts of them were directly damaged. The ministry explained that the Israeli aggression damaged the nursery section of the Shifa Medical Complex, which led to panels falling from the ceiling next to one of the premature babies as a result of targeting the vicinity of the complex. The Israeli occupation attacks also put Beit Hanoun Hospital (the only one in the city) out of service as due to repeated targeting of the hospital’s surroundings, making it impossible for crews to enter and exit from and to it, in addition to damaging large parts of it and stopping its services. It confirmed that the Israeli occupation deliberately targeted ambulances, as they targeted 11 ambulances and a health services vehicle, completely destroying them and putting them out of service. The Ministry of Health said it will continue its contacts and meetings with international and humanitarian institutions to support hospitals’ needs for medicines, medical consumables, and fuel. It demanded relevant stakeholders to open a safe corridor for urgent medical aid to enter the hospitals of the Gaza Strip to ensure that the injured due to the aggression have access to their missing specialized services.

Source: Jordan News Agency

One person has been reported dead and 15 injured in 10 road accidents within the last 24 hours, the Traffic Management Center said on Wednesday.

Source: National News Agency – Lebanon

WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, Ahmed Mandhari, met with the Ambassador of Japan to Egypt, Oka Hiroshi, to affirm the continued cooperation between WHO and Japan in responding to regional health crises. “We deeply value the generous support provided by our long-standing donor, the Government of Japan, to countries and territories of the Eastern Mediterranean Region,” said Mandhari. “This enduring partnership has yielded significant advances in health care across the Region, bolstering the Region’s resilience to various health challenges.” The eastern Mediterranean is no stranger to crises, with several countries facing natural and human-made emergencies. According to a WHO statement issued Sunday, the Eastern Mediterranean has the highest number of people in need and the highest in terms of displaced people of any WHO Region. The statement notes that the Region is highly vulnerable to the public health impacts of climate change, making the need for continued support even more pressing. WHO responds to multiple large-scale emergencies and disease outbreaks and focuses on enhancing the humanitarian-development nexus. WHO seeks to implement the nexus approach through sustainable interventions such as health systems strengthening and the expansion of universal health coverage and primary health care. To date, the Government of Japan has made voluntary contributions to the Region totalling US$ 150 million from 2016 to 2023, according to the statement. This funding has primarily supported emergency and disease outbreak response efforts.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The death toll from the two terrorist bombings that targeted a religious procession and a mosque in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces in Pakistan has risen to 56. The first bombing targeted a celebration on the occasion of the Prophet’s date of birth near a mosque in the town of Mastung in Balochistan Province, killing 52 people, according to international news agencies quoting Pakistani officials. The second bombing happened hours after the Mastung bombing in a mosque during Friday prayers in the Hingu area south of Peshawar in the Khyber Region, leaving four dead and five wounded, according to official Pakistani sources. Local media quoted local police officer Nizar Ahmed as saying that between 30 and 40 people were still trapped under the rubble of the mosque in Hangu.

Source: Jordan News Agency

The Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine, which is provided free of charge for children in Jordan, is safe and effective at protecting children from deadly disease and outbreaks, said the World Health Organisation (WHO) UNICEF who support the Ministry of Health’s national Immunisation campaign. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the rate of Measles vaccination coverage in Jordan has declined alarmingly, with approximately 112,000 children under five years of age (more than 6 out of 10 children in this age group) having missed their routine doses of measles-containing vaccine. According to a WHO and UNICEF statement, the high number of unvaccinated individuals has led to an outbreak of measles earlier in April 2023, when 163 measles cases were reported in seven governorates. “Measles is a deadly and highly contagious disease, which is easily prevented through vaccination, but to create herd immunity and shield our communities, it is critical that we achieve a vaccination coverage of 95 per cent or higher of two doses of the vaccine,” said Dr Jamela Raiby, WHO Representative in Jordan. “Vaccines are one of humanity’s greatest and most remarkable success stories – eliminating diseases and saving countless children’s lives. Building back immunity in Jordan through routine immunisation and catch-up campaigns will help protect children and prevent the public health system becoming overwhelmed with outbreaks,” said Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF RRepresentative in Jordan. The MR vaccine used is procured on the global market from the Serum Institute of India (SII). In 2022, SII accounted for approximately 236 million doses of MR vaccines shipped globally, representing around 80% of all MR vaccines used in the world. SII is one of only two companies prequalified by WHO to make and distribute this vaccine, 81 Member States are using SII MR vaccine across the world. The WHO prequalification means that the vaccine meets global standards of quality, safety, and efficacy. WHO follows rigorous standards encompassing potency, thermostability, presentation, labelling and shipping conditions are met and maintained through regular re-evaluation, site inspection, targeted testing and investigation of any product complaints or adverse events following immunisation. WHO recommends using measles rubella vaccine for outbreak response immunisation in measles or measles/rubella outbreaks for the countries that have rubella vaccine in the routine immunisation programme. Since 2021 UNICEF has procured over 436 million doses of measles-rubella vaccine benefitting 57 countries around the world. To respond to this threat, the Ministry of Health, with the support of the WHO and the UNICEF, developed a comprehensive measles outbreak response plan, including a key component of supplemental immunization activities for the Measles-Rubella (MR) vaccine. Both UN agencies reiterated their commitment to the Ministry of Health to support our shared goals to strengthen the primary healthcare system, provide health workers with the resources and support they need, and deliver lifesaving vaccines to children.

Source: Jordan News Agency