Edited News | WHO , WFP
The first United Nations “Solidarity Flight” is scheduled to leave Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this afternoon - from there, the aircraft will transport the vital medical cargo to all countries in Africa, where supplies are desperately needed to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The airlift represents the largest single shipment of medical supplies from the World Health Organization (WHO) since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The cargo includes face shields, gloves, goggles, gowns, masks, medical aprons and thermometers, as well as ventilators.
“The cargo arrived in Addis Ababa this morning from WHO’s Dubai regional logistical hubs and these flights will move from Addis Ababa this afternoon around 3 pm Geneva time”, WFP spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrssaid at a virtual media briefing organized by the UN in Geneva.
“These flights will transport the vital equipment to five other countries: Djibouti, Sudan, Eritrea, Somalia, and Tanzania”. From those five hubs they will be transported to as many countries as possible, across the African continent.
The cargo includes “one million face masks, face shields, gloves, googles, gowns, medical aprons, and thermometers as well as ventilators enough to protect health workers while treating 30, 000 patients across the continent,’ Ms. Byrs said.
“ This is by far the largest single shipment of supplies since the start of pandemic”, she added.
This cargo will ensure that people living in weaker health care systems can get tested and treated while ensuring that health care workers are properly protected.
“WFP is setting up the Addis Ababa air ops this week to help transport protective equipment and medical supplies and humanitarian workers across Africa for the Covid-19 response”, Ms Byrs said, in reference to the airlift operation. “To do so, we badly need funding and we stand ready to set up a logistical backbone for global response effort”.
In order to continue providing these vital services, WFP is calling on donors to increase their funding for these air bridges that allow for the transfer of supplies, equipment and health care personnel to the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In reference to the WFP airlift, WHO spokesperson Margaret Harris said that the cooperation between the two agencies was an indication of the “crucial” nature of the supplies delivery, as well as of “ how important it is that we are all working across agencies and how this Covid response has to be an across-UN response.
“ This is how the world is going to beat it,” Ms. Harris added.
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Edited News | WHO
DRC faces a severe humanitarian crisis with 25M in need and rising conflict-related issues.
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Edited News | UNRWA
A gimmer of good news emerged from Gaza on Tuesday as patients returned to at a newly reopened UN health centre in Khan Younis, six months after it was severely damaged and forced to close by heavy fighting, the UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) said.
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Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN condemns attacks on Kyiv hospitals, calls for immediate action to protect civilians.
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Edited News | WHO
In Gaza, soaring temperatures, hunger and unsanitary conditions present an ever more deadly threat to a population under constant attack, UN humanitarians warned on Tuesday.
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Edited News | OCHA , WMO , IFRC
Hurricane Beryl smashes into Caribbean, turns sights on Mexico As Hurricane Beryl’s destructive path shifted to Mexico on Friday after roiling the Caribbean, UN agencies and partners said that the emergency response was underway, before warning that a very long and damaging hurricane season looks increasingly likely.
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Edited News | IOM , mcc , UNHCR
Refugees and migrants continue to face extreme forms of violence, exploitation and death on sea and on land across Africa as they attempt to leave the continent, UN agencies said on Friday, in an appeal to border authorities to do more to protect them.
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Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk at the 56th Human Rigths Council, made the following update on the situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela.
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Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
New evacuation orders issued by the Israeli army for areas in southern Gaza are expected to impact 250,000 people, including eastern Khan Younis and Rafah, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.
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Edited News | UNRWA , WHO
Gaza: People are desperate, they need everything, says UN aid agency Panic and desperation now grip ordinary Gazans struggling to survive, UN humanitarians said on Friday, amid fuel shortages of fuel and dwindling supplies that have prevented aid teams from doing their job.
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Edited News | OCHA
UN aid teams and partner organizations remain deeply committed to delivering lifesaving supplies into Gaza, despite the increasing dangers of working there, the Organization’s top aid official said on Wednesday.
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Press Conferences , Edited News | UNRWA
Every day in Gaza 10 children lose one or both legs, says top UN aid official There’s been no let-up in the terrible human cost of the war in Gaza where 10 children lose one or both legs every day, amid ongoing Israeli bombardment and renewed fears of famine, a top UN aid official said on Tuesday.