So let's start, sorry for this technical hitch is today is Tuesday, 30th of April.
We are in Geneva here at the United Nations for the press briefing.
And I'd like to start immediately with James Elder, the UNICEF spokesperson.
James is here with me and he has brought along ET Higgins, the Deputy Head of Office of UNICEF in Lebanon.
And this is because they are launching a new report called the Quote in the Crossfire, the impact of six months of conflicts on children in Lebanon.
So we'll hear from James 1st and Etti will be there with us.
Yes, as soon as this ends, I will send the report and press releases in English, French and Arabic.
We weren't going to be able to have Etti, the deputy head of office.
It's great that she is here to answer questions.
She's a real source of knowledge on Lebanon and was just down in the South for I know we will have questions because of course, whilst Gaza is unprecedented, horrifying and somehow getting worse, equally the situation for children, particularly southern Lebanon, is deteriorating.
Which brings us to this new report, which really underscores the the worsening suffering for children in Lebanon as the country is is faced with this cascading cascade of crises and they are now being compounded by conflict.
So the report Children Caught in the crossfire, The Impact of Six Months of Conflict on Children in Lebanon, finds a surge in humanitarian needs across Lebanon on the back of air strikes that have progressively hit deeper and deeper into a country already suffering protracted economic and political crises.
Together with those children killed and the schools who've been injured, 30,000 have now been displaced.
The infrastructure that they rely on, including significant damage to water stations, has been destroyed.
Thus we now have around 100,000 people denied access to safe drinking water.
Around 23 healthcare facilities are now closed due to the hostilities.
Should this conflict continue to escalate, UNICEF is warning that the repercussions for children will be devastating.
Now, even before this current conflict, around 700,000 children in Lebanon were out of school.
Today in southern Lebanon, on the back of recent violence, another 70 schools have had to close as a consequences.
As a consequence of the ongoing economic crisis, it's estimated that around half of the Lebanese population is living below the poverty line, while an estimated 90% of Syrian refugee households live in extreme poverty combined.
This is of course having a profound toll on the mental health and physical well-being of children and their families.
Just one example report, reports of trauma and anxiety have surged due to displacement and in response to the shelling and increase of air raids.
Among Palestinian parents and caregivers in Lebanon, almost one in 247% are showing signs of anxiety in their children.
Now, Caught in the Crossfire also shows UNICEF's response amid these multiple crises.
But even with our greatest efforts, a permanent ceasefire is essential.
Without that ceasefire, Lebanon is at risk of a full scale war, which will be utterly devastating for the country's 1.3 million children as well as well, of course, for the region's children.
I'm going to send that report now.
Thank you very much, James.
So we, I think we just wait for questions.
So there are questions in the room on this report for UNF.
Let's start with Robin for ETTI.
Robin is our correspondent of AFP English language.
Is there any distinction between the suffering that's occurring in in the South part of Lebanon and in other parts of Lebanon?
Come on the back if necessary, but I think let's throw to you for for all questions if you can hear.
Thank you, Robin, for the question.
Indeed, there is a distinction between those in who've been displaced or who have been suffering the the crisis in the South.
In terms of many, there's many, many.
The majority of those who have been displaced, as James said, almost 100,000, the majority are actually Lebanese and many of them have actually lost their entire livelihoods.
We've been supporting families who unfortunately they had started small and micro enterprises.
We've helped them to get back on their feet since the economic crisis began 3 or 4 years ago, since 2019, and they have again lost everything.
Many of them in particular have lost agricultural land.
Their, uh, their minimal assets that they had established have been umm, in some cases destroyed.
Umm, many who have been working in agriculture, such as in olive farms have also been destroyed.
Umm, and even if they were able to go back, uh, even tomorrow, umm, the type of suffering that they're, umm, that they're, uh, that they're subject to is going to be long term because of the, uh, huge amount of unexploded ordinance that is now in manning of these agricultural areas, meaning that it would be very, very difficult for them to reestablish themselves.
In addition, as uh, as my colleague James has mentioned, umm, children have really had their entire lives disrupted.
Also umm, and even if they have been placed in schools, umm, in different locations, uh, around the country, many of those schools are already overwhelmed with needs and with a huge number of children, given that the country is already hosting over 1,000,000 Syrian refugees.
Other questions from the room for UNICEF.
Sorry, it's difficult to ask questions if we don't have them before you do now.
I think James has sent the report to all the journalists.
Jamie Keaton, our representative, our correspondent of The Associated Press.
Associated Press is correspondent the.
I'm, I wanted to just know about the the conflict you're talking about.
I mean, obviously we have conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
There's also conflict next door in Syria.
What conflict specifically are you talking about?
Are you talking about conflict in general?
Are you talking about, I mean, because there's obviously spillers over, as you mentioned the refugees from Syria.
I mean, when you say caught in the crossfire, which conflict?
Conflicts plural are you speaking about?
No, in this specific incident we are talking about southern Lebanon and northern Israel.
So we're talking about Israel and Hezbollah.
Now of course the region as you well know is, is on a tender hooks right now with the overflow of refugees that have come from Syria with of course what continues to happen in the last 24 hours in Gaza.
So, but when we talk about a ceasefire, we're talking about a ceasefire for the Gaza conflict, which we will hope will talk, will speak to a ceasefire for Israel and Hezbollah as well.
Yuri Aprelev, correspondent of the the university.
Yes, Thank you, James, And thank you for the press release that we just received.
In the press release, you are not saying who killed these children's and who wounded them.
Can we say that they were killed or wounded by Israeli strikes or we can't say that.
The information as we've received from community groups on the ground is that these have been killed by IDF strikes.
Yes, other questions from the room, I don't see any hands up or Ben, was that a hand?
OK, So let's go to the platform research line was of America.
Yes, good morning everybody.
I'd like to know how you would compare, if you can, the situation between the Lebanese children and the refugee children in particular.
There are, well, I imagine there are fair number of Palestinian refugee children, but you must have, you have an enormous number coming over from the Syrian conflict and whether there's hostility growing against the refugee population when you consider the amount of poverty they.
I mean, apart from the wars which are going on, but then including them making it even worse.
Whether that is happening and how this will complicate your efforts in order to try to improve, if you can, the lives of children.
Yeah, a good one for Ettie, who's a on the ground but also just back from southern Lebanon.
OK, you're on, you're on.
Yeah, No, thank you, Lisa, for the question.
Indeed, there, there are some commonalities and some distinct situations between Syrian, Lebanese and Palestinian children on the ground.
And every child of course, has their unique needs.
But what I can say is that the vast majority of children now in Lebanon are not having their needs met.
Umm, and indeed there are a massive spike in increase in tension between communities and between nationalities because of the strain that the country is under and the, and the lack of resources.
Umm, we are facing a massive, uh, a massive collapse in humanitarian funding over the past three months, four months in Lebanon.
And this has forced us to cut back all of our, virtually all of our services, including, umm, the provision of safe drinking water and, uh, simple things like getting rid of sewage from, uh, communities that are already overburdened.
Uh, many of these Lebanese villages have very, very little resources and have welcomed umm, you know, over 1,000,000 refugees into their schools, their clinics, their umm, their communities over the past number of years, 12 years now in the case for umm, Syrian refugees.
And at a time now fourth year into this massive economic catastrophe that has hit Lebanon, umm, indeed, we are seeing tensions really spike and having an impact on, uh, on children on a daily basis, unfortunately.
And this has increased tension in the past number of weeks.
And also, I would like to say that the there is a huge amount of secondary trauma amongst Palestinian refugees who are living in really very terrible conditions in the camps here in settlements for a long, a very long time now.
And again, their resources and their access to services has also been caught.
And they have the secondary trauma of seeing what is happening to fellow Palestinians in in Gaza and in the West Bank and indeed family members in some cases.
I I see Lisa has a follow up.
I'm I'm wondering if you could talk a bit about the situation of malnutrition.
I remember, I would imagine that if the poverty is increasing and so forth, that the access to food and other essentials for the well-being of children must be cut back enormously.
And So what this is doing to children and whether you fear that many of them will become extremely ill and possibly dying.
And then secondly, what is this doing in terms of the coping mechanisms, pushing them into begging and other things, if that even helps to them and exploitation of children.
What are your fears in regard to this?
Indeed, the malnutrition, we've just completed the data collection late last year for one of the most comprehensive nutrition assessments that have been done in Lebanon, and that those results will be coming out next month.
And it points to a very, very worrying situation, in particular for children who are living in informal settlements, informal tented settlements, where the rates of stunting and wasting are much higher than we unfortunately had assumed.
But we had indications that the crisis was getting worse in terms of nutrition because we had seen a three fold increase to children being referred to our malnutrition programmes, umm, over the past 12 months.
And these are now programmes that in some cases we're suspending in parts of the country because of the, umm, lack of, uh, humanitarian funding.
So indeed, we're seeing families now they're sending the entire family out to, for begging.
They're forcing children as young as four to work in agriculture.
And of course this means that their overall health and well-being is being impacted.
I spoke to a doctor recently who said that he had 7 year olds coming to him with back problems because of the heavy loads of trash that they're carrying on a daily basis.
And this is to earn maybe $2.00 per day just to be able to eat and put a meal on the table.
So these stories unfortunately are getting more and more frequent and more and more severe and tragic Maya plants the UN brief.
Yes, thank you for taking my question.
My question is just regarding, I haven't received this report nor press release.
If you could please send to via e-mail.
That's strange because I understand our colleague and Jim used the pallet list.
So we'll, we'll, we'll check.
And I'll give the floor now to Anya Espereiro, AFP French.
You talked earlier, just some questions earlier about the, the massive collapse of, of the funding.
And I wanted to ask you if you could elaborate more on that.
What has happened exactly?
Is there a specific country or a few countries who, who has decided to, to stop the funding or to how do you explain that?
James, I can take that one.
So indeed, it's a number of countries that have that have significantly reduced funding, some of them explained to us.
I mean, there's at least half a dozen, if not more.
And many of them have explained to us that they have a competing crisis, that the Syria crisis has gone on for 12 years now.
And the impact, so it's not only UNICEF, but it's across the different UN agencies and it's across the Syria crisis impacted countries where we are seeing cuts to essential services.
So, so I what we have donors have explained to us is that it's being diverted for other crises and other priorities and domestic priorities and other budgets that they are, they simply do not have the resources anymore that are being allocated.
Just a follow up, if you could quantify that decrease and give us the the names of of the countries.
At this stage, I would prefer not to name the countries because we're still in negotiations to try to to help help us help them to understand the implications of the cuts.
But what I can say in some cases that we were told that it's up to 60, up to 40 to 60% of what we received last year.
So we are hoping that those countries will reconsider those cuts to our Syria crisis response appeal and the Lebanese appeal for for the crisis here.
So right now, I can share after this call the most updated figures so that you have them.
But it is a significant cut compared to to last year, unfortunately.
Other questions for NSAI don't see any.
So James, thank you very much.
I think yeah, make sure that OK.
Oh, sorry, just the answer to John that across this question, this is important.
So it's a soft launch, John, Jonathan, John was asking whether the report was launched from Lebanon OR from Geneva and it's a soft launch.
So just go ahead with the with the news if if you need let me see.
There is no, I don't see, I don't see other questions in the in the chat either.
So thank you very much to the colleague.
I think you can check there is no precise location from which the report is launched.
You can launch it from it.
It's basically your decision whether you want to launch, you want to cover it from Geneva or from Lebanon OR from New York or from wherever there's no main launch as sometimes we do, it is launched from Geneva.
And then of course for the agencies, you have to know this for the who's going to cover, who's going to make the the coverage.
So thank you very much with this.
So let's go to our next speaker.
We have online Christian Lynn Meyer, who has brought us Doctor Wen Qin Zhang, who is the head of WHS Global Influencer Programme for an update on the avian influencer.
Christian, you want to start?
Yeah, let me say a few words.
Thank you very much, Alessandra.
This is not a new a new assessment.
This is the assessment which we sent around over the weekend, the risk assessment and Doctor Zhang will will specify that just to alert because we have many questions over the the last days and you know there there's quite some concerns going around.
So we thought it should be useful to clarify and specify what we're talking about with this fairly new or not so new influenza H5 N 1 virus.
Over to you, Doctor Zhang.
Thank you very much, Christian.
I hope you can hear me well.
It is really a pleasure to be here again to give an update on Evy in France Edge 5:00 and 1:00 on Friday, WHO jointly with FAO and WAR released an updated risk assessment.
Heavy influenza H5 and one virus detected in dairy cattle and one person in the US.
Based on the information so far, we assess the current overall public health risk posed by the H5 and one to be low.
And for those with exposure to infected birds or animals or contaminated environments, the risk of infection is considered low to moderate.
It is important to underline that any influenza virus is evolving, so is the risk associated with the virus.
Therefore, it is very important to keep a close watch for this.
We must closely monitor and assess the spread and changes in the virus and update our preparedness accordingly.
For all countries, we recommend reinforcing disease surveillance in both animals and humans, implementing strict bio security measures on farms and ensuring farm workers are protected with the PPE when they need.
Enhancing surveillance in people with potential occupational exposure, including farm workers, through active case funding and serological studies.
Alerting clinicians to identify cases and, if needed, to follow up on them systematically.
Rapidly share information and the genetic sequence data.
Rapidly share virus material with The Who climbing centres, both The Who Global Influenza surveillance and the response system districts.
As farm workers have have potential occupational exposure to those zoonotic viruses, we we needed to prioritise protecting them.
As for the general public, I already mentioned that the risk at moment is considered low.
Here we reiterate our long standing advice to consume pasteurised milk.
A study conducted by FDA recently looking at the impact of pasteurisation on the survival of every in friends of virus in milk has been promising.
So pasteurised milk is expected to be safe to consume.
Residents and the travellers in places with no outbreaks of any influenza in animals should avoid contact with animals in farms and the live animal markets, should avoid entering areas where animals may be slotted and should avoid contact with any surfaces that appear to be contaminated with animal with animal extra and also should avoid consumption of raw or incompletely cooked meat, eggs or milk.
Good food safety and hand hygiene practises should always be followed, including regular and sorrow hand washing.
WHO and partners are actively revealing the situation and we will update you as we learn more.
Doctor Zhang, I have a few questions for you.
So I'll start with the MFR, who's our correspondent of Reuters.
Just clarification, which cows and in which countries please are currently affected by this?
And there's been some criticism that the US has not responded quickly enough.
Is that the WH OS view or how would you assess the response so far?
Doctor Zhang, do you want to go ahead?
So at the moment the H5 N 1 virus talked about are detected in dairy cattle in the US and only in the US as of 24 April they are.
The virus was detected in cattles in eight states, but I think the figure is slightly increased in the past one week.
With regards to your question about the response, the response in the US from WHO, we've been working very closely with our WHO club in centre near CDC and also with OIE and FAO.
We've been receiving information and also from the website of the USDA and the CDC.
The response, the response update has been updated routinely and in transparency.
So we've got the information and when it's available and we update our risk assessment.
And I think this is all what what I can say at this moment.
Just to add here, maybe if I can, this is really this, this is an important point because this actually shows how the surveillance system works.
The fact that this got picked up, the fact that we now know about it, about individual cases somewhere in some farm, that shows that the surveillance system works.
And for all those who may ask about the notes, the notes should be sent any moment soon.
OK, So Jamie Kitten, correspondent of Associated Press.
I just wanted to follow up on Emmas question because I just want to make sure I understand WHO's position on this.
I mean, are you saying that you see?
No reason to believe that the United States should be facing any criticism for its response.
Or do you feel like there have been any shortcomings in terms of the way that it has responded to this outbreak in terms of sharing information?
I just want to make sure I, I, you laid out very clearly what the US has do done, but is it enough?
Is it substantial and is this criticism founded or not?
Yeah, thank you very much, Jamie.
You know very well the way we operate.
We will share the information we have and the information we're given.
Again, it's a positive sign that this got picked up.
I don't know if we have more facts to share, but we will not go into details about what country X or Y are said are doing or or will be doing.
Thank you very much, Christian.
You have a follow up, Jamie.
Christian Erich, our correspondent of the German news agency.
My question to Doctor Chung, I'm not familiar with the trade of dairy cows between the US and other countries, but how the.
But as you are in touch with all the relevant authorities, how big is the risk that the virus will spread from the US to other countries?
Or is there a risk that the virus might spread by trading milk between the US and other countries?
So about this virus, H5 N 1, actually this virus it's it's H5 N 1 ABM virus.
It's not only in the *** and in US.
This is an virus emerged in 2020, it is H5 N 1 emerged and then in 2021, this virus was spread across Atlantic to North America and in 2022, this virus was spread to South America.
But the unique feature of this event because this was the first time that the virus was detected in cows.
In all the past, this virus was detected in birds and of course since last year, this virus was also detected in certain mammals.
So this is type of the global picture of the virus itself.
Of course there is a possibility of this virus being spread and it is being spread actually geographically and also in different species and it will continue to be spreading itself globally.
So there's a possibility.
But your question about whether it will be spread via milk or not.
So, so far the information we have is that although the PCR detection, the results was positive in some of the milk, in some of the milk itself.
But the virus isolation or in a different terminology is a virus cannot be grown grow from the milk samples, which means that those contained in the milk is only virus particles, It is inactivated.
There's no infectious power of those materials contained in milk.
So it is less likely that the virus will be able to spread through milk itself based on the information so far.
So I think I, I hope I've addressed your question.
I think Christian as a follow.
Yeah, a quick follow up, maybe I rephrase that.
How do you, how **** is the risk that this virus will also develop in cows in other countries, namely in Europe?
Sorry for delay because I always need to unmute.
So the risk with regards this virus infecting cows in other in other countries.
So at moment it is conceded that the virus is coming from birth to, to, to, to, to ***.
And it in the US it is still under investigation whether it was a single entry point or multiple entry point from birth.
But, but we can say it is from birds itself because many migratory birds actually migratory.
So they are travelling around the world, they carry viruses.
Certainly there's a risk also spreading the virus to to other regions itself.
And also because at the moment it is not clear how actually *** to ***, whether there's *** to *** transmission and how it is the virus is being transmitted among cows.
So there are a lot of uncertainties.
So with all this in mind and with the virus carrying, carrying around the world by migratory birds, certainly there is a risk for for cows in other countries to be getting infected.
Yes, I'd just like to come back to my question from before and directly ask Doctor Zhang about this.
In the past, WHO has called and chat in the case of COVID-19, WHO on multiple occasions called For more information sharing from China, specifically to China.
So I'm asking in this case because it believed that there was not substantial or significant enough significant, there's adequate information sharing from China in this case.
WHO can you say, Doctor Zhang, whether or not you believe that the information sharing from the United States is adequate in your judgement?
So from my, from my perspective or in my daily working with our counterparts in the US, we've been receiving information and we've been actually receiving almost a daily updates from our club eating centres.
US we know that for example, the serology studies are being settled up, but it might take time and we also know that serology results it will be very important to explain what just a lot of questions, but it it would it would need to go through certain processes in the US to get it to get it done and get the results out.
And we also know that the genetic sequence data also available and some of the sequence data actually were available very at a very early stage of the outbreak.
And we know that human, the GSD, the human is a genetic sequence data of the human case.
It was immediately available when when it comes out.
And we also know that the CDC is evaluating that this virus with the exact existing candidate vaccine virus to ensure that the existing candidates, candidates or the vaccines can work for the current viruses itself.
So I do think there's a collaboration with with with USCDC and the information we've received so far enables us to monitor the situation to update the the preparedness measures.
I don't know if the question you want to add.
Doctor Zhang, the The Lancet and Francois Cato.
It's a follow up to Jamie's question.
I was wondering if you could just elaborate for us The Who receive information within 48 hours as required by the International Health Regulations in force right now.
And secondly, if you could perhaps later e-mail to us the reference labs that The Who is using for the material you're receiving from the United States.
I don't think we have anything to add unless Doctor Benjin John has a specific information.
Otherwise we've covered it, I think, and we can follow up individually with John if there's more.
OK Any other question to WHO in the room or online?
Sorry if I could follow up on John's question.
I mean, it was a very simple yes or no question.
Can you answer that question or not?
So I don't know if we have the information at hand, if we have it, happy to share, obviously.
If not, then we'll have to defer.
Thank you very much, Christian.
Sorry and thanks very much to Doctor Zhang for this update and answering all these questions.
Good luck with this very important work.
I'll now so that that concludes our list of speakers for today.
I have a few announcements for you.
First of all, a reminder that at 12:00, so in 45 minutes, we will have Philippe Ladzarini in this room, the Commissioner General Bundra for a press conference where he will update you on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian territory.
Also today, two other media event at 3:00 PM, WAIPO will host a press conference that will be via Zoom.
It will be hosted from Waipu headquarters, not from here, and that will be an embargoed press conference on the launch of the World Intellectual Property Report called Making Innovation Policy Work for Development.
The speakers will be Marco Aleman, the assistant director general of WIPO IP and Innovation Ecosystem sector, and Castle Fink, the chief economist of WAIPU.
This report is embargoed until 10 AM on Thursday 2nd of May.
I understand it's quite a complex report and that is why, if you're interested, the WAIPU colleague are organising a background briefing at Waipu with one of their experts about this, about this, and also about the upcoming diplomatic conference.
This will be held, as I said, on Thursday at 10:15 at Waipu.
I think you received the invitation in your mail.
And if you have any question about that, Ed Harris is in charge also today.
And it will be your last work of the day.
A press conference by Orchard that will be at 4:00 PM for an update on the humanitarian situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The speaker will be Bruno Le Marquis, UN resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator.
When he said will be with you.
Because I think, yes, it's not in Geneva.
We've just announced also a press conference for the 1st of May.
So that's tomorrow at 10 AM by UNMAS and that will be for an update on mine action work in Ethiopia, Libya, Mali, occupied Palestinian territory, South Sudan, Sudan and also launching the mine action standing capacity which it will be based in is based in Italy.
The speakers will be the chief of the UNMAS Mine Action Programmes in Ethiopia, Francesca Chiaoudani, in Libya, Fatima Zurig, and in the State of Palestine.
Charles Mungo Birch, you have just received the invitation to this press conference for tomorrow.
Just a reminder about the human rights treaty bodies the Committee Against Torture is reviewing today.
This morning I started the review of the report of North Macedonia and the last country they will examine will be Finland.
That will be on the 2nd May morning and the third in the afternoon.
And a reminder that the Conference on Disarmament will open the second part of its 2024 session on 13th of May.
Always on the press under the presidency of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
And I think I've told you everything I had, except that today is International, International Jazz Day.
And I always try to remind you this because I think it's an important day.
And yeah, I would love to.
I would love to be able to play your little jazz refrain here, but I can't.
But I remind you because of the importance that the jazz music has had in a number of social and cultural fields.
Do you have any question?
I see Maya Plants has a question online.
Alessandra, again, it's about, I have not received this press releases or invitations that you mentioned.
I don't know who is responsible for sending this.
Is the press officer directly or is it your office?
So if you could, No, no, it's our office Mayor and I will, I have the firm intention to check because I've got another message on the line and somebody else will not receive this.
So we will check if I've already informed Solange and.
I will check with Francois.
Francois who prepares the list, he's in the room, so he has listened to you and we will check immediately after this meeting.
May ever say it's the same thing.
We have a problem because you are all accredited permanently, so you should all receive them.
Let us check and we will send you the latest announcements we have circulated.
Any other question for me in the room or online?
So if this is not the case, we have time for a coffee and I'll see you here at 12:00 with Mr Lazarini.
