19 January 2025, Jerusalem, Cairo, Geneva – The World Well being Group (WHO) welcomes the Gaza ceasefire, hostage and prisoner launch deal, which brings hope for tens of millions of individuals whose lives have been ravaged by the battle.
The well being challenges forward are immense. Your entire inhabitants of Gaza has confronted a number of displacements. Greater than 46 600 individuals have been killed and over 110 000 have been injured. The true figures are doubtless a lot increased. Solely half of Gaza’s 36 hospitals stay partially operational, practically all hospitals are broken or partly destroyed, and simply 38% of major well being care centres are useful. An estimated 25% of these injured – round 30 000 individuals – face life-changing accidents and can want ongoing rehabilitation. Specialised well being care is basically unavailable, medical evacuations overseas are extraordinarily gradual. Transmission of infectious ailments has massively elevated, malnutrition is rising, and the danger of famine persists. The breakdown of public order, exacerbated by armed gangs, raises additional issues.
Addressing the huge wants and restoring the well being system can be an especially advanced and difficult activity, given the dimensions of destruction, operational complexity and constraints concerned. Billions in funding are wanted to assist restoration of the well being system, which would require the unwavering dedication of donors and the worldwide group.
WHO is able to scale up the response along with UN well being companions together with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNRWA and 67 Well being Cluster companions. Nevertheless, it’s vital that the safety obstacles hindering operations are eliminated. WHO will want situations on the bottom that enable systematic entry to the inhabitants throughout Gaza, enabling the inflow of assist through all potential borders and routes, and lifting restrictions on the entry of important gadgets. Additionally important are lively safety of civilians and health-care employees, expediting medical evacuations by means of all potential routes for over 12 000 sufferers (and their companions) who urgently require specialised care, strengthening and rushing up the referral system to East Jerusalem and the West Financial institution, and addressing highway repairs, rubble elimination, and the remediation of unexploded ordnances.
WHO and companions will want an enormous scale-up of funding to satisfy fast well being wants, and to start to revive the heath system, together with the workforce, provide chain and infrastructure.
WHO and companions will implement a 60-day plan to assist the pressing restoration and enlargement of the well being system. Focus can be on key precedence response areas, together with trauma and emergency care, complete major well being care, baby well being, noncommunicable ailments (NCDs), sexual and reproductive well being and rights (SRHR), rehabilitation, psychological well being and psychosocial assist (MHPSS).
Given the immense wants, WHO is scaling up operations and mobilizing vital provides and assets for supply into Gaza. A precedence would be the evaluation and rehabilitation of partially broken well being amenities in high-need areas. Work is ongoing to urgently enhance mattress capability throughout chosen hospitals in northern and southern Gaza, along with the enlargement of operational capacities, supporting the hiring and redistribution of nationwide well being employees, and growing deployment of worldwide well being employees to fill gaps. Plans are underway to combine prefabricated clinics and hospitals with present well being amenities to boost service supply in underserved and newly accessible areas.
Efforts are also underway to strengthen referral processes for vital care inside Gaza and facilitate cross-border medical evacuations. Given the excessive degree of malnutrition and illness outbreaks, WHO is working with companions to increase toddler and younger baby feeding programmes, improve immunization efforts and reinforce illness surveillance programs for well timed prevention, reporting, and outbreak administration.
WHO calls on all events to uphold their dedication to completely implement the ceasefire settlement and to proceed working in direction of a political answer to handle the protracted disaster within the occupied Palestinian territory, which is crucial for lasting peace.
