Baghdad, 29 May 2017 – The Government of Japan extended its support to the World Health Organization in March this year with a donation of over US$ 1 million to implement a project to provide integrated lifesaving services in camps for internally displaced people and Syrian refugees in the hosting governorates of Ninewa, Erbil and Duhok.
Through this initiative, a population of over one million civilians now has access to mobile emergency medical services provided through 2 emergency management coordination centres. The centres are supported by a network of newly procured ambulances staffed by trained paramedics who work in coordination with the centre control rooms operators round the clock.
“As military operations progress towards the old city in west Mosul, there is a sharp increase in the number of displaced populations who require urgent humanitarian response,” said Altaf Musani, WHO Representative for Iraq. “WHO has mobilized all available resources to scale up its support to the national health authorities to respond to the increasing health needs for trauma care, primary health care and referral services. The scale of required support is vast given the presence of nearly 4 million IDPs and over 225 000 Syrian refugees distributed in camps in the governorates of Erbil, Dahok, Suleimaniyah, and the recently liberated areas in Ninewa,” Mr Musani added.
“We hope that our contribution will help capacity-building of emergency medical personnel and save the lives of as many vulnerable people in Iraq as possible,” said H.E. Mr Fumio Iwai, Ambassador of Japan to Iraq. “This assistance is part of Japan’s commitment made in the pledging conference in support of Iraq held in Washington DC in July 2016. Japan has provided grant assistance to Iraq, amounting to approximately US$ 350 million for IDPs, refugees and host communities affected by ISIL,” Mr Iwai added.
The donation is very timely and will allow WHO to respond to the increasing demand for essential health care services reported from 8 refugee and over 20 IDP camps located in different areas of Erbil, Suleimaniya, and Duhok governorates, in addition to a large number of displaced populations living with host communities, particularly in Debaga, Qushtapa, Bahirka, Diana, Basirma and Shaqlawa districts. WHO and health partners have appealed earlier this year for US$ 110 million needed to support health care interventions for 6.2 million people Iraq-wide. The current funding gap of 85% will leave millions of people with limited access to essential and lifesaving medical care including those at risk of physical and emotional lifelong disabilities.
Related link
Life-saving initiatives: Government of Japan supports WHO in Iraq
Baghdad, 19 May 2016
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