The current estimated number of people impacted in Ukraine is 18 million, of which 6.7 million are internally displaced, the WHO Europe said in a statement on Monday.
“Nearly 3 million people have fled the country. Supply chains have been severely disrupted. Many distributors are not operational, some stockpiles are inaccessible due to military operations, medicine supplies are running low, and hospitals are struggling to provide care to the sick and wounded,” WHO said.
WHO said that it is coordinating with partners the provision of humanitarian health assistance, both within Ukraine and on its borders, and providing technical support and surge staff.
In particular, on March 8, WHO delivered to Kyiv 10 tonnes of trauma and emergency surgery kits to Kyiv, to be distributed to warehouses in seven regions: Kyiv, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa, Zaporizhia, Zhytomyr and Cherkasy.
In addition, on March 9 through March 11, 9 shipments of 10 tonnes each were dispatched to Kharkiv via Poltava; to Sumy via Poltava; to Dnipro; to Kherson via Dnipro; to Mariupol via Dnipro; to Mykolaiv; to Zhytomyr; to Zaporizhia; and to Cherkasy. Each shipment serves 150 trauma patients and 15,000 primary health care patients for 3 months.
WHO sid that All supplies are distributed in close coordination with the Ministry of Health, based on WHO critical needs assessments, public health risk, service assessments and logistic capacity. “The coming days and weeks will see a constant flow of medical supplies, as part of an effort to ensure people’s access to essential drugs and medical care,” the organization said.
The WHO also said that, As of 12 March WHO had verified a total of 31 attacks on health care between 24 February and 11 March 2022, resulting in 12 deaths and 34 injuries, of which 8 of the injured and 2 of those killed were health workers. More attacks are being verified.
“WHO strongly condemns acts of violence against health care. Every single attack deprives people of life-saving services. Attacks on health care are violations of international humanitarian law and human rights,” the organization said.
