The World Health Organization’s Europe department introduced Monday that as much as 1,000 girls and youngsters in want of medical care will quickly be evacuated from Gaza to Europe.
Israel, which is besieging the war-devastated Palestinian territory, “is committed to 1,000 more medical evacuations within the next months to the European Union,” Hans Kluge stated in an interview with AFP.
He stated the evacuations could be facilitated by the WHO – the United Nations’ well being company – and the European international locations concerned.
On Thursday, U.N. investigators stated Israel was intentionally concentrating on well being services in Gaza and killing and torturing medical personnel there, accusing the nation of “crimes against humanity.”
Rik Peeperkorn, WHO consultant within the occupied Palestinian territories, stated in May that round 10,000 individuals wanted to be evacuated from Gaza for pressing medical care.
The WHO Europe has already facilitated 600 medical evacuations from Gaza to seven European international locations for the reason that newest warfare started there in October 2023.
“This would never have happened if we did not keep the dialogue (open),” Kluge stated.
“The same (is true) for Ukraine,” he added. “I preserve the dialogue (open) with all companions.
“Now, 15,000 HIV-AIDS patients in Donbas, the occupied territories (of Ukraine), are getting HIV-AIDS medications,” the 55-year-old Belgian stated in English, stressing the significance of “not politicising health”.
“The most important medicine is peace,” he stated, noting that healthcare staff needed to be allowed to do their jobs in battle zones.
‘Outrage each time’
Around 2,000 assaults have been registered on well being facilities in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, in response to the WHO
“There may be a kind of acceptance almost but this should cause outrage every single time,” he stated.
“We will always continue to condemn this in the strongest possible terms.”
Kluge expressed concern forward of Ukraine’s third winter of warfare.
Nearly “80% of the civilian energy grid is damaged or destroyed. We saw it in the hospitals, surgeons operating with a lamp on their heads,” he stated.
“It will be a very, very tough” winter.
Despite strains on Europe’s well being care techniques, he stated the 53 international locations that make up the WHO European area – which incorporates central Asian international locations – had been in a position to come collectively to organize for future pandemics.
“In Europe, we did our homework,” he stated.
Global pandemic treaty?
“What we need is a pandemic treaty globally, because even if we do our share, we’re never going to stop bugs entering our continent.”
A European technique for pandemics is because of be offered on Oct. 31.
At the identical time, the WHO is urging its members to “manage and prepare for the next crisis, while ensuring the continuation of essential basic health services” with a purpose to keep away from one other “rupture” like that which occurred throughout the COVID pandemic.
Ensuring the safety of nationwide well being care techniques is essential and needs to be a precedence, he stated.
“A minimum of 25 out of 53 countries during the past five years had at least one big health emergency event big enough to test the country’s security,” he stated.
The pandemic has left its mark on Europeans, which Kluge hopes to erase throughout his subsequent mandate.
“The COVID-19 pandemic set us back two years on non-communicable diseases,” he stated, requiring international locations to double down on diagnosing and treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, testing for uterus and cervical most cancers, and vaccinations.
In addition, Kluge stated he additionally needed to deal with worrying tendencies, such because the well being of younger individuals and rising inequalities between women and men.
“It’s very clear. We see that the lockdowns during COVID-19 led to a 25% increase in anxiety and depression orders,” he lamented.
Some “26% of the women between 15 and 49 years in my region report, at least one time in their lifetime experienced intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence,” he stated.
Kluge has headed the WHO Europe since February 2020 and is anticipated to be re-elected on the finish of October.
Source: www.dailysabah.com