WHO appeals for $1bn for world’s worst health crises including Gaza
The World Health Organization has appealed for $1bn to address health crises this year across the world’s 36 most severe emergencies, including in Gaza, Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Haiti.
“A quarter of a billion people are living through humanitarian crises that strip away the most basic protections: safety, shelter and access to healthcare,” WHO health emergencies chief Chikwe Ihekweazu told reporters in Geneva. “Health needs are surging … yet access to care is shrinking.”
The WHO has repeatedly said Gaza’s healthcare system is “on the brink of collapse” with institutions hardly functioning, a blockade on medical supplies and equipment, and Israel-imposed delays in travel for critical cases threatening Palestinian lives.
Despite ‘ceasefire’, medicine shortages worsening in Gaza
Zaher al-Wahidi, spokesperson for the Gaza Health Ministry, says thousands of people in Gaza are at risk of dying because of a lack of access to medication.
“With medicine, the deficit has grown after the ceasefire. Although the number of injuries has gone down relatively, the lack of medicine has gotten worse, reaching 52 percent. This is a rate that we did not reach throughout the war,” al-Wahidi told Al Jazeera.
The medicine deficit for chronic illnesses is at 62 percent, he added.
“That means 62 percent of people with chronic conditions are not able to take their medication regularly, which leads to deterioration in health, which leads to death. Many people have died while waiting due to the lack of medical services,” al-Wahidi said.
There are 350,000 patients with chronic illnesses in Gaza, according to the ministry.
Israel delaying Gaza medical evacuations is ‘a crime’, says Qatar
Majed al-Ansari, spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, says Israel’s opening of the Rafah crossing is “a positive step” but completely insufficient for the tremendous needs of Gaza’s besieged population.
“The crossing must be fully opened to allow the entry of aid, and we will not accept this being used as a tool of pressure,” al-Ansari told a press briefing in the capital Doha.
“Preventing the passage of thousands of medical cases is a crime, and this issue must be resolved,” he said. “We are sounding the alarm regarding the severity of the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the necessary machinery, equipment, and aid have not entered.”
