PRESS BRIEFING BY THE UNITED NATIONS INFORMATION SERVICE

30 April 2024

Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS) in Geneva, chaired the hybrid briefing, attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization.

New report: The Impact of Six Months of Conflict on Children in Lebanon

James Elder, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), said the report underscored the suffering for children in Lebanon as the country was faced with a cascade of crisis, compounded by conflict. The report, “Caught in the Crossfire: the impact of six months of conflict on children in Lebanon”, found a surge of humanitarian needs across Lebanon, off the back of airstrikes which had hit a country already suffering from a protracted economic and political crisis. Some 30,000 children had now been displaced, 100,000 people were denied access to safe drinking water and around 23 health care facilities were now closed due to the hostilities. If the conflict continued to escalate, the repercussions for children would be devastating. Before the conflict, around 700,000 children in Lebanon were out of school and now in southern Lebanon, following the recent violence, 70 more schools had closed. Almost half of the Lebanese population was living below the poverty line, while an estimated 90 percent of Syrian-refugee households lived in extreme poverty. This dire situation was having a profound impact on the mental health of children and their families: for example, 47 percent of Palestinian parents in Lebanon were showing signs of anxiety in their children. Even with the greatest efforts, a permanent ceasefire was essential. Without it, Lebanon was at risk of a full-scale war which would be devastating for the country’s 3.2 million children, and those in the region.

Responding to questions, Ettie Higgins, Lebanon’s deputy head of office, for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), speaking from Beirut, said there was a distinction between those children who had been suffering in the south of Lebanon, compared to other parts of the country. The majority of those displaced there were Lebanese and many of them had lost their entire livelihoods. UNICEF had supported families who had started micro-enterprises since the economic crisis, who had now lost everything again. Many had lost agricultural land, including olive farms. Even if people could return, their suffering would be long term, due to the huge number of unexploded ordinances in the agricultural areas. Schools were overwhelmed with need, given that the country was also hosting over 1 million Syrian refugees.

Responding to questions, Mr. Elder said the specific discussion was around the conflict in southern Lebanon and northern Israel. The entire region was on tenterhooks, due to the overflow of refugees from Syria, and the situation in Gaza. When referring to a ceasefire, this was a ceasefire for the Gaza conflict, which would hopefully speak to a ceasefire for Israel and Hezbollah too. The information UNICEF had received from community groups on the ground was that the deaths referenced in the report were a result of IDF (Israel Defense Forces) strikes.

Ms. Higgins said there were some commonalities between Syrian and Lebanese children, and Palestinian children. The majority of children in Lebanon were not having their needs met. There were increased tensions between communities and nationalities due to the lack of resources. There had been a massive collapse of humanitarian funding in Lebanon in the past few months, which had forced UNICEF to cut back services, including the provision of safe drinking water and sewage disposal. Many of the Lebanese villages had little resources and had welcomed over a million refugees into their communities over many years. Therefore, tensions were spiking, and this was impacting children daily. There was a huge amount of secondary trauma among Palestinian refugees, who had been living in terrible conditions in camps and settlements for a long time.

Responding to further questions, Ms. Higgins said data collection for one of the most comprehensive nutrition assessments in Lebanon had been conducted last year. The results, which would be released next month, were very worrying, particularly for children living in informal settlements, where the rate of stunting and wasting were much higher than had been assumed. There had been a three-fold increase in children being referred to malnutrition programmes in the past 12 months. Some families were sending their entire family out to beg, and were forcing children as young as four to work in agriculture. Ms. Higgins had recently spoken to a doctor, who said he had seven-year-olds coming to him with back problems, due to the heavy loads of trash they were carrying daily. This was to earn maybe two dollars per day, just to be able to put a meal on the table.

Ms. Higgins said that there had been a massive collapse in humanitarian funding over the past months in Lebanon. At least half a dozen countries had significantly reduced their funding. This was being seen across the Syrian crisis-impacted countries, and across other UN agencies. Donors’ funding was being diverted for other crisis and priorities, and the affected countries did not have enough resources. Ms. Higgins said she would prefer not to name the donor countries, as UNICEF were still in negotiations with them, to help them understand the implications of the cuts. The cuts were between 40 to 60 percent of what was received last year, so it was hoped those countries would reconsider the cuts to the Syria crisis response appeal and the Lebanese crisis appeal.

Update on the avian influenza A(H5N1) risk assessment

Christian Lindmeier, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said this assessment had been sent around over the weekend. There had been many questions and concerns, so it was useful to clarify on the avian A(H5N1) virus.

Dr. Wenqing Zhang, Head of the Global Influenza Programme, for the World Health Organization (WHO), said on Friday, WHO, jointly with the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH), had released an updated risk assessment of the recent virus detected in dairy cattle and one person. The current assessment of the overall public health risk posed by A(H5N1) was considered low, and for those with exposure to infected birds or animals, or contaminated environments, the risk of infection was considered low-to-moderate. However, the avian influenza virus and its risks were evolving and it was important to keep a close watch. For all countries, WHO recommended reinforcing disease surveillance in both animals and humans; implementing strict biosecurity measures on farms and ensuring farm workers were protected; enhancing surveillance in people with potential occupational exposure, through active case finding and serological studies; alerting clinicians to identify cases and follow up on them systematically; rapidly sharing information and genetic sequence data; and rapidly sharing virus materials with the Collaborating Centres of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance and Response System (GISRS). Farm workers had occupational exposure to zoonotic viruses and their protection needed to be prioritized. WHO reiterated their long-standing advice to everybody, to consume pasteurized milk.

WHO said those in places with known outbreaks of avian influenza in animals should avoid direct contact with animals in farms and live animal markets; entering areas where animals may be slaughtered; contact with any surfaces that appeared to be contaminated with animal excreta; consumption of raw or incompletely cooked meat, eggs or milk. Good food safety and hand hygiene practices should always be followed, including regular and thorough handwashing. WHO and its partners were actively reviewing the situation and would continue to provide updates.

Responding to questions, Dr. Zhang said currently, the virus was detected in dairy cattle in the United States only. As of 24 April, the virus was detected in cattle in eight states, but it was likely the figure had slightly increased in the past week. WHO had been working with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and had been receiving regular information. The response update had been provided routinely and with transparency.

Mr. Lindmeier said the fact that individual cases were known, showed that the surveillance system worked, which was a positive sign. WHO would share all the information they received but would not go into details about individual country responses.

Responding to further questions, Dr. Zhang said the virus was not only in cows and in the United States. It had emerged in 2020, and then in 2021 it spread across the Atlantic and north America, and from there to south America in 2022. However, this was the first time that the virus was detected in cows, and since last year the virus had been detected in certain mammals. The virus was currently spreading geographically and within different species. Currently, PCR (polymerase chain reaction) detections had found the virus in milk, but determined it could not grow from the milk samples. It was unlikely the virus would be able to spread from milk itself, based on the information so far. At the moment it was understood that the virus was coming from birds to cows. The United States was still investigating whether it was from a single or multiple entry points. Because migratory birds travelled around the world, there was a risk of the virus being spread to cows in other countries this way. Currently it was not clear whether the virus was transmitting cow-to-cow.

Dr. Zhang said from her perspective working with the United States, WHO had been receiving substantial information, including daily updates. WHO knew that virologist studies were being established, which would address a lot of questions. The genetic sequence data was available and had been at an early stage of the outbreak, including the genetic sequence data of the human case, which was immediately available. The CDC was working to ensure the existing candidate vaccines could work for the current virus. The collaboration with the CDC had enabled WHO to monitor the situation, to update preparedness measures.

Announcements

Alessandra Vellucci of the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), said at 12pm today, Philippe Lazzarini, Commissioner general of UNRWA, would be holding a press conference to provide an update on the occupied Palestinian territory.

Today at 3pm, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) would host an embargoed press conference via Zoom, from WIPO headquarters, on the launch of their World Intellectual Property Report. The speakers would be Marco Aleman, Assistant Director General and Carsten Fink, Chief Economist. The report was embargoed until 10 a.m.on Thursday May 2. WIPO colleagues had organised a background briefing on the report on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. at WIPO and Ed Harris was available for any questions.

At 4 p.m. today, a press conference by the Office of the Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) would be held for an update on the situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of the Congo (DRC), with Bruno Lemarquis.

A press conference had just been announced for 1 May at 10 a.m. for the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) which would update on mine action work in Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, occupied Palestinian territory, South Sudan, Sudan, and on the launching the mine action Standing Capacity, based in Italy. The speakers would be the Chief of the UNMAS mine action programs in Ethiopia, Francesca Chiaudani, Libya, Fatma Zourrig, and the state of Palestine, Charles Mungo Birch.

Ms. Vellucci said the Committee against Torture would begin the review of North Macedonia and would examine Finland as the final country. The Conference on Disarmament would open the second part of its 2023 session on the 13^th of May, still under the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ms. Vellucci said today was International Jazz Day, which was important, due to the impact of jazz in social and cultural fields.

Responding to questions, Ms. Vellucci said she would check logistics after the briefing, as some people had not received the latest announcements.