In focus
Trauma care and mass casualty management
Trauma-related fatalities are on the rise in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, as its countries and territories suffer ongoing conflict, escalation of violence, and natural disasters.
Injury death rates are nearly 3 times higher in low- and middle-income countries of the Region than in its high-income countries. Traumatic injuries are most common in fragile and conflict-affected settings. But the populations most in need of trauma care services are typically those least able to access them.
Between 60% and 80% of all trauma-related deaths in low- and middle-income countries of the Region occur before reaching the hospital, reveals a recent WHO analysis. About one quarter of these fatalities may be avoidable with basic control of haemorrhage at the time of injury.
In low-resource settings, however, prehospital services are rudimentary, and injured patients are often stabilized and even transported to hospital by family, friends or members of the public.
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Attacks on health care in Eastern Mediterranean Region
Ongoing and escalating conflict in parts of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region continue to place health care at massive risk.
In 2023, attacks on health care in Sudan and the occupied Palestinian territory reached . From March to August 2023, there were 60 attacks on health care in Sudan. In the occupied Palestinian territory, there were 754 attacks on health care from 7 October to 16 February 2023.
Attacks on health care is a term that covers many acts of violence. Health workers are killed, kidnapped and assaulted. Health facilities are destroyed, damaged or taken over for nonmedical purposes. Ambulances are looted, stolen, shot at and denied travel through checkpoints. Health workers, hospitals and patients also come under threat when electricity and water are disrupted, fuel is limited or access to besieged populations is obstructed.
In settings where health systems are already fragile, threats to health providers have devastating costs beyond the loss of lives of health workers and the patients they might have saved. Thousands of people every year will die not because they are direct victims , but because the environment becomes too dangerous for effective health services to be delivered.
Together with partners, WHO has set up a system to collect data on attacks on health workers, health facilities, and patients in complex emergencies. This information is used to identify patterns and find concrete ways to avoid attacks or mitigate disruptions to health service delivery.
WHO continues to call on all parties in conflict to abide by their obligation under international humanitarian law to respect the sanctity of, and actively protect, health facilities.
For the latest data on attacks, visit the WHO Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care.
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Related infographics
Climate-driven emergencies
© WHO / Abdirahman Mohamed
With extreme weather events growing in frequency and intensity, the climate crisis is responsible for more and more health emergencies in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region.
Many countries of the Region suffer from fragile health systems even before a climate-driven emergency occurs. This is often because of other, often protracted, humanitarian emergencies.
The many health impacts of climate change include:
direct injury and death
population displacement
spread of waterborne diseases – due to the impact on water and sanitation systems
spread of infectious diseases
rising cases of noncommunicable diseases
reduced food production
reduced health workforce
damage to health infrastructure
severe mental and psychological impacts.
No one anywhere is safe from the climate crisis. But its severe public health impacts most affect the most vulnerable health systems and the most disadvantaged populations.
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