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WHO warns of rise in deaths and human suffering in Gaza
December, 29: Geneva, Cairo and Jerusalem: The World Health Organization (WHO) calls for an immediate end to hostilities in the Gaza strip and urges Israel to ensure immediate provision of fuel and critical life saving/trauma care supplies for the already collapsing health system. Hundreds of wounded, including women, children and elderly people, lie in hospitals that already lack basic supplies. Over the past two days, violence and military activities in Gaza have killed around 330 people and left 900 injured, according to latest reports .
The inability of the hospitals to cope with a problem of this magnitude, if the situation continues unchanged, will result in a surge in preventable deaths from complications of trauma. Civilians are paying the price for the prolonged blockade. As a top priority, the shortages of essential and life saving medicines needs to be abated without delay. The current escalation of the violence only compounds the health situation and unnecessarily exacerbates the fragile status of the civilians caught up in this conflict.
WHO has secured, in collaboration with several Member States, the dispatch of medical kits to cover surgical and trauma interventions. WHO is following up with the Palestinian and Israeli authorities to ensure that health relief supplies, including the medical kits already on hand, reach those who need them.
Negotiations with the Israelis are ongoing to guarantee the passage of urgent medical supplies today. WHO is also coordinating with other UN agencies, donors and nongovernmental organizations to ensure aid arrives to those most in need. The functioning of hospitals and access to health services is critical in order to respond to the mass casualties.
WHO reiterates its call for the immediate discontinuation of the current violence and the removal of blockades so that much-needed food, water, fuel, medicines and other humanitarian aid can reach those in need.
Mrs Mubarak at the launch of Eastern Mediterranean Stop TB Partnership
“TB is a global problem requiring global solutions, and the strong commitment and cooperation of diverse actors and nation states. We all have very important parts to play in providing a launching pad for a momentum in addressing this situation”. Congratulating the WHO’s Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean for launching the Eastern Mediterranean (EMR) Stop TB Partnership, Mrs Suzanne Mubarak, First Lady of Egypt made these remarks while delivering the keynote address here in Cairo. Coinciding with the 14th Coordinating Board Meeting of the Stop TB Partnership, the launch was attended by prominent political, business, public health sector and civil society leaders from the region.
Mrs Mubarak praised the efforts of WHO, the Stop TB Partnership and Ministries of Heath in the Region for ensuring implementation of the Stop TB Strategy and making treatment and care available. She also expressed gratitude to the audience, including representatives of partners within the Stop TB Partnership, for their staunch dedication in leading the fight against tuberculosis.
The First Lady, sharing Egypt’s progress, said that the Ministry of Health and Population had reduced TB prevalence by 30% between 1990 and 2005. The treatment success rate now stands at 87%, and the detection rate at 67%. She said that the Egyptian national health reform plan had achieved considerable results, especially in creating more quality services and facilities for victims of TB, including the development of 39 new specialized hospitals. The reform plan had guided the development of diverse community-based systems, which served to mobilize community involvement in fighting this disease, she added.
Earlier, Dr Hussein A. Gezairy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern Mediterranean, welcomed Mrs Mubarak and said that TB is still a significant development challenge for the Region, causing loss of human life and posing a threat to the development process. Ms Irene Koek, Chair of the Coordinating Board, Mr Ejaz Rahim, former Federal Minister of Health of Pakistan, and Mr Farid Gibran, of Rotary International, also spoke on the occasion, stressing the need for such a regional forum and pledging their support.
During the proceedings of this landmark two-day event, more than 50 representatives of the public and private health sectors, business community, academia, media and civil society, as the first EMR Stop TB Partnership forum, agreed to the proposed framework and working mechanism for the Partnership. The forum selected an 11 member Executive Board for 6 months, with Prof. Awad Tag El Din, former Minister of Health, Egypt, and Mr Ejaz Rahim, former Minister of Health, Pakistan as Chair and Vice Chair respectively.
The delegates also constituted committees on resource mobilization and to scale up TB care efforts in the Region. The forum welcomed the commitment of the Regional Office of WHO to host the provisional secretariat for 6 months and Special Advisers Dr Zuhair Hallaj, Mr Ejaz Rahim and Dr Kazem Behbahani for resource mobilization within the Region. The delegates adopted and signed the Cairo Declaration to Stop TB in the Eastern Mediterranean Region declaring TB as an emergency in the Region and calling for collective efforts of the regional representatives to fight it.
A gala event was also held to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of WHO and launch of the EMR Stop TB Partnership. A cultural performance by children, videos on 60 years of WHO and TB in the Eastern Mediterranean and musical performances from a well known Nubian troop and a leading Egyptian singer were also part of the media gala.
The Eastern Mediterranean Region of WHO is home to 22 countries: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Morocco, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen. TB, a totally preventable and curable disease, causes 110 000 deaths across the Region each year, nearly 300 people every day.
According to WHO, the Region has reported improved case detection and success rates in previous years; some countries have performed well and others are improving their performance. However, the average case detection in the Region is 53%, against the global target of 70% to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
International Law to combat the tobacco epidemic
The Third Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC) drew to a successful close on Saturday in Durban, with the election of the Director General of the South African Health Department, Mr. Thami Mseleku, as its President.
More than 600 delegates from 130 Parties to the Convention as well as representatives of States non Parties and other Observers attended this milestone event in the implementation of a Convention designed to combat the global tobacco epidemic set to kill an estimated 5 million people or more every year.
The Conference achieved a broad range of goals and among the highlights, the Protocol on illicit trade has been addressed, based on the report of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (Article 15 of the WHO FCTC). The Parties paved the way for continuing negotiations aimed at the adoption of the Protocol in late 2010. Beyond public health concern, illicit tobacco trade, including smuggling and counterfeiting, deprives governments of an estimated US$ 40-50 billion every year.
On three different Articles of the Convention, strong and comprehensive guidelines have been adopted in order for countries to:
- protect their public health policies from the interference of the tobacco industry (Article 5.3 ), which is pushing aggressive tobacco marketing particularly on children and the developing world, and continuing to fuel the conflict between profit and health;
- ensure that truth about tobacco use be properly reflected in packaging and labeling of tobacco products, using picture-health warnings that the entire society, including the less literate, can readily understand (Article 11);
- Ban advertising, promotion and sponsorship of tobacco products nationally and across borders (Article 13), which, according to overwhelming scientific evidence, increase tobacco use, especially among children and youth. Thus, the Parties agreed that there is nothing that can be called corporate social responsibility for the tobacco industry to promote its deadly product.
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Other major issues have been addressed such as the link between tobacco and poverty and a working group has been set up to explore and recommend policy options on economically sustainable alternatives to tobacco growing.
The governments also set up a working group dedicated to elaborate guidelines on tobacco dependence and cessation.
As the first session of the COP being held in Africa, this meeting bore also a strong regional dimension. The continent has been experiencing an explosive increase in the tobacco epidemic targeting the most vulnerable. Also, large areas of it are wholly dependent on tobacco as a cash crop and yet tobacco growing is not yielding enough money to buy food for subsistence and viable livelihoods. During last week’s international negotiations on tobacco control, the African countries have thus been particularly vocal in encouraging governments to demonstrate a genuine commitment to producing results.
Finally, COP3 adopted the next budget and work plan as well as discussed financial resources and mechanisms of assistance to help the developing countries to successfully translate into action at national level their obligations and commitments under the Treaty.
The Conference decided that its next session will be held in Uruguay in 2010.
All the guidelines and documentation of the meeting can be found at : www.who.int/gb/fctc
Media contact : Brenda Abrar-Milani,
