As attacks have been intensifying in Ukraine, the World Health Organization (WHO) have called for a “humanitarian corridor” to be established to deliver essential medical supplies.
A week after Russian troops invaded Ukraine, hundreds of civilians have reportedly been killed and more than a million people have fled the country.
During a media briefing on Wednesday, WHO director-general, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said the organisation was concerned about the unfolding humanitarian emergency in Ukraine.
“There is an urgent need to establish a corridor to ensure humanitarian workers and supplies have safe and continuous access to reach people in need,” he said.
A humanitarian corridor or safe passage refers to a temporary demilitarized zone to allow the safe transit of humanitarian aid.
Tedros said the first shipment of supplies for trauma care and emergency surgery will reach Poland later today.
Thousands of refugees have fled to Poland, a neighbouring Ukrainian country.
“The WHO has so far released $5.2 million from our Contingency Fund for Emergencies. Our needs for the next three months are $45 million for Ukraine, and $12.5m to support neighbouring countries to care for refugees,” he said.
Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative to Ukraine, said it had been challenging to get the medical supplies to hospitals.
“We have an agreement to use logistics as much as possible to ensure that we are getting all the goods to the hospitals. The corridor and protecting the healthcare workers is the most important.
“Oxygen is particularly needed in some hospitals. We need a safe passage, because under the current situation it is difficult to find drivers and to bring oxygen,” he said.
Speaking on the Covid-19 situation in Ukraine, Dr Mike Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, said infectious diseases will likely exploit the refugee’s vulnerability.
“Any time you disrupt society like this and put literally millions of people on the move, infectious diseases will exploit that. People are stressed, they are not eating, they are not sleeping properly, they are highly susceptible to the impacts of being infected.
“What might be for the rest of the world a mild variant [Omicron] could be a very different experience for someone who is in that situation. There’s no question that Covid-19 will exploit that,” he said.
Deeply concerned about the unfolding emergency in #Ukraine. @WHO has released $5.2M from its Contingency Fund for Emergencies & has launched an appeal for:
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 2, 2022
$45M for ongoing support in Ukraine &
$12.5M to support neighbouring countries to care for refugeeshttps://t.co/T7PnKS9yIC pic.twitter.com/wG0w8Giakv