Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service here in Geneva.
We are going to start immediately with a briefing on the situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
We have with us Doctor Akihiro Seita, who is the Director of Health at UNRWA.
As you may have seen with distributed to you this morning, UNRA has published a health programme annual report and Mr Doctor Seta is here to tell us about it.
I also wanted to remind you before we start listening to Doctor Seta, the statement by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East, Chris Process that we have distributed to you last night about the airstrikes in Rafa.
So I give the floor now to Doctor Seita and please have your initial remarks and then we will open the floor to questions.
Thank you very much for good gathering.
I'm the Director of Health of UNRWA.
UNRWA covers not only the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Gaza, West Bank, including the East Jerusalem, but also Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, where we have in total around 6,000,000 Palestine refugees since the 1948 or 1950 when we start operations.
Now I'll briefly talk about the entire 100 operations in these five years we call it and they go to the West Bank in Gaza in a couple of minutes.
So the for the health report, which clear say that the 100 continued the services under such a difficult timing.
Not only Gaza and West Bank, you know, Lebanon is the economic crisis, Syria is also in securities prevails.
And then we, we never stop any services.
And last year we provide the services around 7 million consultations.
And the 2,000,000 Palestinian refugees use our services cause some of them come multiple times, which includes that 300,000 people with a diabetes hypertension because of prevailing poverty and difficulty in lifestyle.
And also that we, we took care of that the 70,000 pregnant women and there are almost all of them except for the current Gaza that almost all of them deliver the babies in the hospitals.
So it's a quite good coordination with the host government of Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, as well as Palestine.
And also we have an increase in number of mental health and psychosocial support.
And last year we treated 33, three, 3000 patients with mental health, we introduced WHO image gap and this 33,000 includes that the depression, anxiety and the other mental health condition.
So it's a very good robust, the Primary Health care services.
Of course, it is supported by the 3200 staff.
Almost all of them except me are Palestinian refugees.
They they were born there and they they studied there, they came to our services and provide the services to their own population.
I think that's a good reason that we have extremely good commitment and we have a very good election of medical records that it is a cloud basis.
It's connected 140 health centres and day-to-day and so many of the health centres are paperless or digitalised and register recording that medical condition.
The prescription by the digitally and we also have a smartphone applications.
One is for the mother and child food pregnant mothers.
So far 270,000 mothers using these applications and the diabetes, hypertension or non communicable diseases we around 200,000 people using this application.
So 1 is quite robust primary scale with a long history of a good quality of services and the indicator of which you can see the annual report because second-half of the annual report is all the datas and you can see this next West Bank.
The West Bank situation is very dire.
We have a 40 plus health centres, but it is very difficult to move say typical example that health staff who are working health centre X may not be able to reach the health centre on time.
So what we did is we reallocate the staff and so that the people living near that health centre can go to the health centre to work and so that we do not have a disruption of the provision of the services.
But it's very difficult in the West Bank and the particular, the incursion and some of the health centres affected and that is also our main concern.
I still can't forget what I have seen or I I still cannot.
How do you call the reconcile of what I've seen in the brain and the mind?
Yeah, the correct expression.
And then so I went because of my job, I went to Gaza many times, pure patrique Gaza City.
Then I went there on the 8th of April.
I really couldn't understand where I was when I saw the street, when I saw the buildings, I really couldn't understand why I was a big shock to me.
But nevertheless, I'm, I'm very proud to tell that the hundreds never stop the services we provide the Primary Health care at this point of time, 7 health centres I need, I need to check today, but it was a seven health centres yesterday and there was 105 medical points which are all in the shelters.
We have still quite large number of shelters.
And so we provide the Primary Health services in these health facilities and every day we we treat almost 1515 to 20,000 and sometimes 25,000.
Before the war, the average daily consultation in Gaza was a 1515 thousand.
So that we are catching up and providing the services not only the refugees, which accounts for the 70% of population, but the non refugees as well.
We treat everybody and then that the health conditions dire because of the lack of the good to wash your water and sanitations that we have been still very **** rate of the accutory aspirity infections, diarrhoea including ****** diarrhoea as well as hepatitis A.
And then that's our main concern and there also that the main tyres on the rise, but we do as much as possible and then that access to the hospital services, we are working very closely.
Thanks to WHO and the international partners that we, we try to have access to the health services or hospital services to the Palestinian refugees, others.
But All in all again that as I said that we never stop services.
We continue to provide the services and include the vaccinations and then we start the vaccination there from the beginning of the year.
And so far we have 100,000 children vaccinated.
And so it's a quite good catch up to the pre war level and a thanks to the community because their mothers are very much keen to vaccinations, nutritions, we do them work which is the middle upper arms measurement.
And then our data is still preliminary.
And then but it shows that there is an increasing trend of the malnutrition less than two years in the southern part of Gaza that 10% of the kids we found that accurately malnourished and working with the UNICEF and other to provide a hyper elementation treatment.
So Gaza stations are again, that's very dire and we do our best.
But the situation because of this massively deteriorating situations, what do we need now is ceasefire.
We, we continue to do whatever we can do, but without ceasefire, without peace on the ground, peace in mind, we continue to suffer.
And I'm sorry to say that the people in Gaza may continue to suffer.
So ceasefire is highly requested.
Thank you very much to to sit and I'm sure there will be a lot of questions.
I also wanted to mention I should have done it before they they tweet that Antonio Guterres, our secretary general posted last night about the Israeli air strike where he said I contend Israel's actions where which kills the core of innocent civilians who were only seeking shelter from this deadly conflict.
There is no safe place in Gaza.
I'll open the floor to question, first in the room as usual, and then on the platform.
Isabel Sacco, the Spanish News Agency.
I would like to ask you more details on the situation in West Bank, how the incursions by the Israeli forces have affected the the services in the health centres and should mention you had to reallocate the staff to to live near the health services.
But if you can explain a little more on the situation there they on a daily basis how the work is is happening.
If if people can access the health centres also to to to seek for for services for health centres.
Yeah, thank you very much.
That the yes, that the for from us.
The major problem is that how to continue the services to ensuring the number of staff in the health centres to come.
When I was there at the beginning of the year, the I can share one example I faced that I went to the one of the health centres where that the some of the health centre stuff could not come.
Then they called the head of health centre and told them that I'm here in the checkpoint for three hours.
We couldn't move so they asked the health centre stuff what should we do the health centre stuff so that you can go home and then that kind of situation continues.
And so that we make sure that the where that the health health staff can access.
Then we ask we reallocate the staff to go to the health centre to continue the services for the in the hype of encouraging, of course our centre is closed, but after that we open it and then make sure that the people have continued access to the services that we are we are going to do this Yep.
And so in the, and the other problem is the movement that our warehouse, main warehouse of medicines in Jerusalem, because I'm sure you know that our front office is in the Jerusalem.
And then so the moving the medicine from the Jerusalem to the West Bank is always challenging that we are working closely with the Minister of Health and other partners to make sure that when the medicine in the warehouse could reach the Hebron or Ramallah or the Nablus, that's what we're going to do.
So it's it's extraordinary challenging.
Oh, you have a follow up, Isabel.
Yes, very quickly, if you have any, if you have any idea on what kind of health problems are increasing because people don't have access to the medical services.
No one is on the rise is mental health and you can see in the statistics in the report.
So I don't want to refer to the an inaccurate number, but the one is on the right, but also the NCD are on the right, but this is continuous.
So our aim is to make sure that they have access to our services and also that access to the specialised services in collaboration with the Minister of Health.
Yes, please can you introduce yourself?
I know that you come from the Landsat, but.
Anyway, could you reflect on the financing side of your work because obviously it's very challenging and you're having to treat and see so many more individuals?
As you know, I'm the Director of Health, so that I'm not in the best position to answer to the financial situation.
But let me share the what I know and the detail.
You should contact the office.
Then at the beginning of the year that because of the allegation that the 16 countries stopped the financing, today 14 countries resumed 1/4.
So it's a good sign for us, but because that we still have not yet reached to the sustainable financing level.
So the at this point of time, what we have is that the next month's June cash flow is OK until June cash flow, sorry, is OK.
After that it's still challenging and massage.
I don't know if you amongst your healthcare centres, you have kind of trauma centres, but I'm wondering if any of them were dealing with the injuries from the Rafah air strike Sunday, Monday night, what did they see?
How were they able to cope with that?
And just a broader question on on medical supplies into Gaza, have have you had any in at all since the Rafa operation began and and how dire is the supply situation for you?
Yeah, thank you very much.
So therefore the yesterday's one Rafa I, I'm not updating myself, so I'll come back to you later.
But in general, as I say that we have a seven health centre, the 105 medical points, the when I went to the health centre, so the medical points, I saw lots of injured people coming to our health centre.
It's simply because of the hostel overwhelmed and so they cannot keep the patient long, so they come to our health centre.
So the wound, what you call dressing change and then that our health centre and the particular medical point are not the best place to have a clean wound to change.
So we are working with WHO to hold the wound care, wound care so that the people come here that should be able to get clean that dressing and the wound care.
And that's the one of the main issues the place I went in the medical points in mid of April, mid of later March, around the 20 to 30% of the patients coming to our medical points are for wound care and that's also big burden.
And so that's how we are trying to do this, the supplies that yeah, I understood that the Karamchalon opened the day before yesterday.
So that I hope that the medicine goes in.
Now we have a 2 routes that our office is exploring together with other human partners.
One is Irish and the Egyptian side, the one, the other one is the Jordan side.
And they work with the world, with the programme to make sure that we can send the medicines there.
It has been challenged, if we go back a little bit history that at the beginning of the war that we had a major warehouse in Gaza City.
And if you remember the one week after the start of the war that we needed to evacuate to the South to continue the services and we lost all the stock in the central warehouse on medicines.
So we run out of the stock very quickly.
And then since then that we've been there.
What we did is we bought all the medicine for six months and because of this support to the international communities and also the government of Egypt that they reach by the end of the by the end of December, almost all of them reached.
However that we see that what we call the consumption medicines increased.
Some of them increased drastically in comparison to the pretty wall.
One of them like creating the wound care because we did not deal with the wound care before the war, but also the antibiotics and some anti diarrhoea medicines because of the very poor hygiene conditions.
I forgot to mention that in our latest statics still say that in the shelters we have, we have one toilet over for 800 people and the one shower for three to 4000 people is simply because we have too many people to care.
So it's, but it's result in the the increase in the diarrhoea and the hepatitis.
And so medical supplies we still have these are very good to stock now, except for the some medicines we have an increase in consumption.
They're really hoping that either the Arisha Rafa route or Karmacharan route or the Jordan route regime will open and so that we can send the medicines from these places.
And we have Doctor Harris from WHO, who has something to, to add to answer Ms Question, please.
I've got an update on where we are with that.
The certainly the medical supplies and the fuel supplies are running very, very low.
We've managed to get 3 trucks in through Karam Shalom since the, the, the Rafa incursion began.
And we have 60 WHO supply trucks waiting at Al Arish, unable to cross into Rafa due to the closure of the border.
As you know, the estimated requirement is 200,000 litres per day.
And we have been able to get in approximately 70,000 litres per day at best.
So that's that's an approximation over what's been able to get in.
So all the hospitals are really struggling and making decisions about what they can do.
We have 14 hospitals that are officially still functioning, but what we call functioning often, they're not accepting in patients and they've had to limit what they can do, particularly in Rafa, only Emirati hospital remains barely functional and there are 5 field hospitals, but all are overwhelmed and undersupplied.
And so this means that the key health services are just not available in Rafa, including dialysis, medical imaging, surgery, paediatrics, internal medicine and maternity care.
I've got a lot more detail if you want it, but I can.
And I see that James has raised his hand maybe also to answer Emma's question.
Good morning, James, James, our spokesperson of UNICEF.
Yeah, just to add on the what's happened in the last three weeks since the invasion of Rafa, remembering the limited quote, unquote limited invasion of Rafa, which is now displaced around 1,000,000 people.
But when it comes to water, as of today, both desalina tion plants in central and southern Gaza are shut one for 18 hours and one for 8 hours.
So throughout this past week, 10 percent, 10% of the required fuel has got in for those desalina tion plants.
So when we were talking about on average in Rafa, a person getting around, a person getting around 1 litre of water per day, catastrophically below any emergency level, we are now again multiplying by fractions based on the closure of Rafa and a ongoing military offensive there.
Thank you, James for this update from UNICEF, I go to Nina Larson, AFP.
I was wondering, I had a few questions.
Yeah, if you're talking about receiving, you know, wound care in in your health centres, but.
Can you describe sort of what kind of, what kind of injuries are coming in?
And also are you, are you handling births, women labour, women giving birth and, and also amputations and things like that?
If you could just sort of give an impression of, of what you're seeing there.
And then in, in terms of the lack of fuel, I know that there were warnings at the beginning of the the Rafah operation that that all humanitarian assistance would ground to a halt with the 70,000 litres going in per per day.
You know how how limited are your operations, would you say?
So sorry, the wound care, what we saw anyway, all the wound is treated by the hospitals and then the operations amputation, whatever fracture, they do it in the hospital.
We are primary care providers.
So we have no operations room, We have no surgeons to do this.
But once operations finish that they're stabilised in the ordinary setting, they stay in the hospital longer or they go to the hospital, patient wound addressing by the specialist, but the hospital total overwhelmed as you heard this.
So this patient will come to us.
So the what I saw is quite all the range of the people including amputations that for the wound care, we do not do the searcher that all the things just to change the wound, clean the wound and to change the dressing that we going.
We are doing this with the all the different types of this one.
If you remember that in the several years ago, that couple of years ago, we have a great match of return in Gaza where there's lots of angels have the same same sort of situation that they came to a clinic for the wound care and that's what we are going to do and what we're trying to do.
And the other ones labour, labour all done in the hospitals.
We have a way to help over the UNFPA that we have midwives in our shelters, but they are not there to meant to the deliveries, but they are meant to support the pregnant mothers and babies.
But there's all so far that the majority of the delivery done in the hospitals and we took care after the process.
There's a very limited number of deliveries at the shelters as far as I know.
OK, Yep, thank you very much.
Do you want to add anything to that?
I think again, because of the limitation on fuels, decision is made every day.
About what what it's used for, I mean, because it's used for the generators for hospitals, but it's needed also for the bakeries to try to provide some food.
It's it's needed for the desalina tion plants, as as James mentioned.
So everybody's making very, very difficult decisions about what can be done.
I mentioned dialysis, the lack of dialysis.
The one little bright spot is the dialysis services have returned in NASA General Hospital, and I understand also they're going to begin to do so in Al Shifa.
So it's extraordinary how despite the massive destruction and the difficult circumstances, people are working under what you said, the people keep on coming back and restoring services as best they can to keep on serving the people.
The other big issue actually is lack of medical imaging.
When you've had your bones ******* by a bomb or other trauma, you need that.
The doctors need to be able to see where they are, to put them back in a way that helps you to heal.
There are no CT scans working.
There's about one in the north.
In the rest of the South of ****** Gaza, there isn't ACT scan, so you can't actually see.
You have to really fly blind.
All the work that the doctors and nurses are doing, they're doing.
They're doing their very best, but they know they're not doing what they really could do if they were just allowed to provide the level of care and services they could provide before the 7th of October.
Thank you, Margaret, for this update.
I have Beza Donmetz who is our correspondent of the Turkish News Agency.
Firstly, I want to ask about can we say that, you know, lack of fuel entrance and also, you know, I'm going strike especially after the Rafa attacks, those increased the number of needs of medical educations.
How many do we have a rough number and you know, is it taking place or not?
And my second question would be more broad Unrar question, but you can maybe, you know, comment from the health point of view.
Yesterday EU foreign policy, Jeff Borrell said that Israeli parliament has been starting to study a lot to declare that Unrar will be forbidden to act and worked in West Bank and in Gaza.
Javier, Will and what would be me, what would it mean for your operations in the region and what would it mean in the health sector?
Stephen, no, I'm going to step along and then answer the first question.
Yeah, go ahead with the second question.
Second question, Thank you very much.
I'm not in a position to answer or respond to the what Israel is discussing now.
But what I can say is this, Mumbai is critical and essential for the people in the West Bank and Gaza.
We provide, we cover 70% of people in Gaza for the primaries care, quite a large number of them.
And at this point of time, 6070% of patients are seen by Undra for the primary care.
So that without UNDRA, it is extraordinary tough situation.
They already went beyond the limitation, but it's very tough.
So what I will say is UNDRA is critical, essential and the providing the service that needed to the people.
So continuation wonder is extraordinarily important.
And I like to back this as, as you've seen several times at all levels, the UN Secretariat, all our officers, including at the highest level, we've been saying it repetitively that ANRA is the backbone of the humanitarian operation in Gaza.
No other entity has the capacity to deliver assistance to the people of Gaza and of course the Palestinian territories.
Margaret, on the on the issue of the evacuations.
So on the issue of the evacuations, there's been an abrupt halt to all medical evacuations.
Now I think as you know, we normally have around 10,000 people who need to be evacuated.
And since the increase in the violence in the area and Rafa and the limitation on the services, we now have an extra that 1000 critically ill and injured patients who've been unable to leave Gaza to receive the much needed medical treatment elsewhere.
Just for housekeeping, I've got Jamie here in the room and then two questions on the platform.
And then we will go to Papua New Guinea, which I know is also quite **** on the on the news and we will listen from the colleague in Bangkok.
Margaret, could you just elaborate on two things?
One is that you just mentioned that the evacuations have come to an abrupt halt.
And then the second question is going back to what Emma had asked earlier, Can you provide us some more details about the aftermath of this strike that happened in the weekend over the weekend in terms of the, the, the casualty that you've seen or that that you've heard reported and the type, for example, it looks like there's a lot of burns cases.
I mean, I don't know, we've talked a lot about malnutrition and crushed bones and whatnot, but we haven't often heard about burns.
So do you have the proper equipment in place to treat burns like they were just anything that you can shed greater light on what happened from a health perspective on this on this over mishap as as as Prime Prime Minister Netanyahu described it over the weekend.
On the sorry, my brain has just gone.
Oh yeah, since 7th of May.
So no evacuation since the 7th of May.
And indeed the after the horrific incident and not a mishap, a horrific event which WHO deplores the attack on displaced people who were sheltering in tents in Rafa.
The numbers I have so far from the Ministry of Health reportedly killed 35 people, including women and children.
The injured were treated by Awho supported trauma stabilisation point, as well as in the five field hospitals that are being run by UK Med and IMC field hospitals.
But it absolutely overwhelmed them and you're quite right that many of the people would have suffered from terrible, terrible burns.
And that requires intensive care, that requires electricity, that requires **** level medical services.
Increasingly we are struggling to even have the **** level skilled doctors and nurses because they've been displaced.
They were all displaced by the incursion and Rafa, which meant they left wherever they were working.
It's an enormous struggle for all the medical teams to meet the needs, and this is one of the hardest things for a doctor or nurse.
You know you want to help, but you don't have what it takes.
And you are watching people who shouldn't die, die in front of you because you simply either lack the tools, the skill or the supplies to do what needs to be done.
I go to the last two questions, General Costas, The Lancet and Franz Wancat on the line.
My question is to Doctor Sita and also to Margaret and James.
Yesterday, Doctor Tedros mentioned that over 18,000 surgeries had been conducted in Gaza.
Do we have a a bird's eye view on how many of these trauma surgeries would have been for amputations in particular for children?
And if you have an update on that and to what extent many of these amputations we be due to these 2000 kilogramme, 2000 kilogramme bombs that are often used in Gaza?
James has put his camera on.
Should I start with James maybe?
Yeah, James, it's since this is really on children.
No, my, my camera was was turned on by the moderator, John.
We crunched that number with the Ministry of Health in November that that is well known now around that 1000 children had been single or double amputees.
And that was that was late November.
And unfortunately, to the best of my knowledge, given as we've heard time and again, the systematic destruction of the health system and a new number hasn't been updated to anecdotalize.
For what it's worth, there are a lot of children in tents in Rafa who should be getting the best of medical care, as Doctor Harris has explained, in fact, are sitting in tents having had amputations.
So beyond the physical need, the the psychological stress is immense.
They are, they are nowhere near the medical support that they need.
And just to extend on what Doctor Harris was saying this, you know, we've heard this called a tragic mishap, a mistake.
I guess the question is what then to call the ferocious attacks that have killed thousands and thousands of children?
How do we describe the actions that have pushed the entire population to starvation?
What do we say to as your question, John?
What do we say of those countless children who've had arms and legs amputated or the thousands who've been orphaned?
And what what is the language used to describe the unprecedented devastation to homes and schools to to the the uncharted territory of trauma of children?
I think then surely the question that needs to be asked is how many more mistakes is the world going to tolerate?
I don't think there's much towards that, Margaret.
I was just going to say to John, it's not simply the bombs, it's the lack of infection prevention and control, the lack of being able to provide the level of surgery that could save a limb.
Decisions are having to be made by doctors to remove a limb to save a life.
And again, that's a horrible, horrible decision to have to take.
I was wondering regarding the West Bank, whether there has been or there is any interference by the Israeli Defence Forces and the settlers for the ability of people to access the healthcare that that they need or whether it's fairly routine.
And then for you, James, if if you could kind of describe a little bit more about how well if the mobile, I believe there are mobile stabilisation centres in Gaza around rough and so forth.
How well they are operating.
What the how you see the situation of what is called famine or or starvation, whether you believe this has really kicked in and where the children are, as we are speaking, starving as a consequence of this.
You know, any numbers that you might have regarding the levels of malnutrition and so forth.
Thank you, Doctor Sita, thank you.
I do not have exact number, but when they encourage on all that the settlers violence happens targeting the camps of ours in the West Bank.
It affects access to the to the people to the health centres naturally.
And that's also a major issue that the when that they need urgent care and then when the camp is closed, that some of the camps do not always have hospitals.
And so that we have to wait until the project is open so we can send the patient together, the PRC Paris and Red Crescent to send the hospital.
So yes, it is affecting the case.
I do not have an exact number, but it is a very serious situation.
We don't have updated malnutrition numbers, but beyond those that we shared a month or so ago that showed imminent famine in the north and vastly multiplying nutritional situation in the South.
What I think that agencies have tried to explain, and it's difficult to to to piece together given the horrors of seven months.
Every day in Gaza simply gets worse.
So now as we've seen since the 7th of May and and the lifeline to Gaza, Rafa largely being closed, getting no aid through Rafa.
So we will see a continual deterioration.
Kamal Adwan, you'll have heard that hospital referred to in the north.
It's a hospital I visited a couple of times.
It's the only one doing paediatric care for severe acute malnutrition.
It came under attack in the last in the last week.
So again its operability has been, has been damaged severely.
Attacks have continued in Jabalia at force.
Those people in Jabalia who were unable to move based on financial means quite frequently seven months ago, yes.
So their state is again, absolutely perilous.
When the United Nations advocated, Lisa, for areas crossing to open because areas is 10 minutes away from mothers hunched over skeletal children, absolutely no need for that, for those children to be in that precarious position.
When the United Nations advocated for errors to be opened, we did so in the knowledge that that cannot be a cynical move to enable this offensive in Rafa and then Rafa to shut that as it is, has transpired.
And that will mean that the nutritional situation which was already hanging by a thread, people's coping capacity, the UNS ability to get food to people, that has only deteriorated.
And we cannot, we cannot for a moment pretend that the humanitarian response is anywhere near what we would like it to be, what it should be and what it's needed to be by the civilians in Gaza.
Thank you very much, Nina.
We have so many people waiting so really fast.
It was about the abrupt halt to all medical evacuations.
I was just wondering if you have any idea of how many people or if there are people who have died as a, as a consequence of this lack of, of evacuation.
If you could give us a bit, just a few more details on that.
I don't have numbers of people who've died, but whenever we analyse who's waiting and who's gone through, we do have a number of people that have died waiting.
So this is exactly what's happening, that while we're waiting for agreement, and this is before medical evacuations came to a halt.
So while we're waiting for an agreement, a percentage of those people who are waiting to be moved die.
And I do have the numbers not in front of me, but I can provide those numbers from prior to this abrupt halt.
So and, and given the the sort of relatively chaotic situation and people moving and medical nursing staff and so on moving, I doubt I'd be able to give you clarity on who has died since being identified as needing to be moved since May 7.
But I can give you those numbers from before and I see other journalists nothing.
So maybe that would be something of interest to everyone.
We concluded, yes, of course, please, Sir, thank you very much.
Just at the end, I just want to refer to our staff, 1000 health staff working in Gaza.
And then the some of them are unfortunately killed, but we still maintain the services and the majority of them are already displaced multiple times.
And then some of them are leaving the tents, coming to a clinic to work.
Some are leaving the shelters and they come into the medical point to work in shelter.
Really would like to attribute my sincere admiration, the respect and thanks to them.
But the just the 11, I want to say one word that they told me.
One of my friends working Rafa, he moved out Rafa because the incursion.
And then before moving out, he just sent me that SATA when the world is going to recognise as human being.
And I couldn't answer and I really couldn't answer.
But my job is to make sure that he's not great.
At the end of the day, I think it's the biggest challenge for us to prove that we are taking care of them as a human being.
And that's the biggest challenge to all of us.
Thank you so much, Doctor Sita, and good luck for the work which is extremely important and difficult.
Thank you and thank you, Margaret.
I have a feeling you'll come back later on, but thank you.
I get to I get to the same as OK, so now the the second question to treat the second topic we have on our agenda is also **** on the news and it follows the horrific landslides in Papua New Guinea that has been happening during the weekend.
We have sent you the statement.
By the by the spokesperson of the Secretary General, who said that the Secretary General is deeply saddened by the reported loss of hundreds of lives in a massive landslide in Papua New Guinea and extended the heartfelt condolences of the Secretary General to the families of the victims.
Expressed solidarity with the people and government of Papua Newini and expressed the work and the the availability of the United Nations to support the government's response efforts and offer additional assistance.
And to tell us about this, we have online from Bangkok Itayi Viriri.
I don't need to introduce you to Itayi.
You know him from his time with us.
Sorry for for making you wait so much.
But I think it's very important that we talk to the journalist about what's happening in Papua New Guinea where IUM is on the the forefront of the monetarian response.
And I give you the flow for your introductory remarks.
Thank you very much Sandra for the introduction.
Hi colleagues, good morning.
Let me start maybe by just clarifying some of the figures that we are aware of as of today.
So as, as, as you've seen from from a lot of the media coverage, the National Disaster Centre has estimated that up to 2000 people that are still buried under the rubble after the massive a landslide that took place on Friday at 3:00 AM when most people were probably sleeping.
The other confirmation that we got this morning from the provincial authorities is that collectively the number of people that have been affected by this disaster around 7840, which is made-up of 1427 households.
So this includes those presumed buried under the rubble, but also the six bodies that have been recovered so far.
One aspect that we should certainly emphasise is that quite a lot of the people who have been affected by this landslide, it actually moved to this area after escaping tribal conflict in other parts of the province of Anger.
So these are people who are already displaced, who are now having to move to other locations.
The response is certainly underway with the United Nations, mostly IOMUNICEFUNDPUNFPA and UN women providing support to the government along with other other other international agencies.
And what is needed now obviously is access to clean water.
Quite a lot of the water that normally the community would access is already under rubble.
So providing that along with food, of course, clothing, shelter items, kitchen utensils, anything that will try and alleviate the hardship that the the the people are facing right now.
The other issue that is obviously facing the response is the area itself.
It's still very unstable.
So the, you know, the rain is still falling and there's always a risk that there might be further landslides.
And the reality also is that access to, to, to the area for, you know, government and other agencies is quite difficult.
Just today, this morning, one of the main thoroughfares leading to, to this area, a bridge there collapsed.
And now they have to fix it to make sure that all the convoys that are going to provide support have access.
The other issue of course is the government itself, through the National Disaster Centre, has asked for international support to ensure that resources are mobilised very quickly to ensure all the people who need help get it as soon as possible.
Another concern, especially when it comes to to health, is because there's so many and recovered bodies under the rubble, there's still water flowing underneath because it's coming down from the mountain.
That water obviously will be contaminated, unfortunately, meaning that any sources of teen drinking water further down the the mountain where the landslide occur occurred will be contaminated.
So that that's another aspect that needs to be, to be, to be to be dealt with.
I think I'll stop here, obviously, if there are any questions.
We have teams on the ground at the site along with our UN agencies, partner agencies as I've mentioned.
But we hope to have a bit more updates, especially in terms of the recovery process.
I should add on, I mean, this is obviously a horrible, horrible situation, but there were some good news yesterday.
A couple were rescued after three days under the rubble.
So I think until the local community or the authorities say stop, I think the rescue and recovery efforts will continue because you just never know.
But I think there will come certainly a time when it's really a recovery process.
Etay, thank you very much.
I understand maybe you want to ask him which number you because there was some disturbance when you started your briefing.
So Christian, I think wants to ask you to repeat some numbers.
Hi Italy, nice to see you on the screen.
Could you repeat the numbers that you mentioned in the very beginning?
Yeah, that's all I wanted to ask.
So let me start with the the number from the National Disaster Centre, which has said 2000 people they believe are still buried under the rubble.
And then this morning, the provincial authorities in meeting all the various agencies present on the ground, said the total population affected is 7849, made-up coming from 1427 households.
These includes those who are presumed to be buried under the rubble and also of 1650 displaced people.
The ones that I mentioned have actually escaped conflict elsewhere and came to settle in this region.
Maybe just one, I'm talking of numbers, maybe just also add this other, I think important number.
The population of Papua New Guinea is 42% under the age of 16.
So the expectation is that quite a lot of children would have been affected by this.
Obviously we, we won't know until the authorities get a, a clearer picture in terms of the number of of of of casualties fatalities.
But if we judge, if we take it on the basis of the population of Papua New Guinea, yes, that's, that's quite a significant significantly young population.
Christian, sorry, just a clarification.
7849 affected means what exactly?
It's not people under the presumed under the rubber.
So let me clarify that 7849 is number of all the people that have been affected.
So this includes the 2000 that the National Disaster Centre has said are buried under the rubble.
This also includes the obviously recovered bodies and over 1600 displaced people.
So only the government or the authorities are saying 2000 are buried under the rubble and of those 2006 have been, 6 remains have been recovered and we have, as part of that population, 1650 already previously displaced.
Thank you, Emma, third Reuters.
I was wondering if you could just give us an idea of whether you have all of the equipment and personnel really required to respond to a disaster on this scale.
Is there enough on the ground in this remote location?
And could you elaborate a bit more on the bridge collapse?
How is that affecting the rescue and the recovery efforts?
Are there other routes in?
So right now the attempts from the authorities, actually the government and the defence forces is to bring in the heavy equipment that can help with going to get getting some of the rubble to reach the the bodies underneath.
So that's, that's ongoing.
But of course, as I mentioned, the access to to the site is very, very difficult.
The bridge collapsed this morning is actually in a neighbouring Western Islands province, but the road where this bridge is leads to anger province.
So what what has happened is that it has cut off the main islands highway which leads to anger and it means that the alternative Rd for example, that can take relief convoys to to anger.
It's another two to three hours, but we understand that the latest update is that they're working frantically to, to, to fix the bridge or find an alternative, find a temporary solution to this.
So that's another dimension I think that certainly they're having to do with.
But one of the issues that they've certainly the authorities have brought up is that they need a lot of engineering support.
So the National Disaster Centre has appealed to through the UN to get as much support, engineering support, because obviously trying to get rid of the rubble, and we're talking not just rubble like soil, but heavy boulders, needs a lot of engineering support or heavy equipment that can do the job.
The bridge collapse was because of the landslide conditions.
It was because of the instability in the rain.
I don't have those specific details that we just know that it that the bridge collapsed.
I have a photo I think that we may be able to share.
And it does look like a very flimsy flimsily constructed bridge.
So it could be that maybe there was heavy traffic trying to head to, to, to, to, to anger province.
I can always follow up and find the specific details, but this is just one of the roads that main road that will lead to Anger Province.
As I mentioned, there's an alternative Rd through the Southern Highland province but that takes it's another two to three hours to the journey.
We hopefully should have an update tomorrow morning as to how quickly they can fix the the bridge and if there are other alternative ways of bringing in the relief that is needed to be through air support.
But again, this is a very hilly mountainous region, so even air support is not always an easy option.
Thank you very much, Lisa.
I hear from media reports that the ground is still very shaky and that the situation is unstable.
And I'm wondering whether you are concerned others are concerned about the possibility of more landslides And if So, what precautions are being taken in order to protect people from this possibility?
And then has there been an international appeal for money or do you anticipate that this will happen?
How much well are people talking about might actually be needed in order to help the situation?
Let me start with the second question.
So the the officials, especially the National Disaster Centre have appealed through the UN for international support.
They haven't clarified any, any specific figures.
But what we can say, certainly from IOM side and I'm sure other UN agencies would have the same, we've had donors reaches like the usual donors, the United States, the European Union and others reach out to say they're on standby to provide support.
I believe Australia is already sending in actual heavy lifting equipment and you know the kind of equipment that is needed in this situation.
An appeal short shortly will be going out.
I believe we are certainly working on an appeal from IOM.
So hopefully that should be ready in the next day or so.
It's really up to to to the government also to to clarify what kind of specific needs there are.
I mentioned the list of things that I needed now like water, food, shelter and so on, but obviously this all needs money.
In terms of conditions, yes, the conditions are very, very difficult in some parts.
There's still the, the, the land is still moving in terms of where this rescue operation is going to, to, to, to, to, to take place.
We still, as I mentioned, still have water underneath the rubble.
So that is making the whole area quite uneven.
So that also ensures that all the response efforts have to be done in a very, very careful manner, meaning that you know, you don't want another disaster on top of another disaster.
So right now the efforts are being led by our UN coordination disaster coordination team along with the the PNG Defence Forces and other actors.
And again, we have to be mindful of, of the conditions that are prevailing there and, and, and just try as much as possible to help the people who have survived this.
But also, as I say, try and still do the recovery work that's needed.
Because ultimately, whenever this tragedies, tragedies take place, communities want the comfort and solace of, you know, burying their dead, doing what is necessary in their customs and cultures.
So that's a very, very big aspect of this and we're there to provide support to the community as much as we can.
Sorry, I think Lisa had also asked about prevention.
I don't know if you can say the word about that.
If she she asked about if this is, we are providing foreseeing that it happens again, what's been done to prevent or to prepare?
Well, I, I can't speculate, but the, the, I mean, this lens like that happened on Friday had not happened before in this area.
So it's hard to say if it will happen again.
But with the continued heavy rains and in the vicinity, obviously everything is, is, is, is, is the soil is unsteady and all the rubble is still some movement.
I mean, we've seen some of the videos of even water coming out in some of the some of the rubble.
So that makes it even more uneven.
So yes, unfortunately, we have to consider that it might happen again.
As to what preparations the local authorities are doing, I can't say at this stage, but I think everyone is spreading cautiously.
Even though this is a very, very urgent and desperate situation in many ways, we still have to spread carefully and make sure that we don't have another disaster on top of the current one.
I don't have the questions for you, but keep us.
Oh, sorry, I didn't see your hands.
You remember him from us?
Could, could you just tell us what's being done to evacuate people to get them to safety?
So, I mean, this morning at the, at the briefing with the provincial authorities, it was, it came up that in case there was any further ****** of a landslide, people will be, have, will have to be moved again.
I don't have specific figures.
I know some media came out, came out with some figures of just around 8000, but I cannot verify that.
All you know that all we know is that they are ready and and preparing to to move a lot of the affected population to neighbouring provinces.
We have daily morning and evening meetings with the authorities.
So hopefully we'll get a clearer picture maybe in the meeting tomorrow morning and we'll certainly provide an update.
But for now, I think everyone is operating on the premise that anything can happen.
This is quite a very difficult terrain and the fact that this has happened, even even not happened before means that it can happen again in the same locality.
I'm sure you've all seen the visuals from from from from above looking at how the the area is is is is how the mind the mountain slopes and how fast also the area is.
So I think caution is certainly key here, but at the same time, there's that agency, indeed the impressive images.
So I don't think I've missed any other hands up.
Thank you very much and please keep us informed.
Also on the question of defence, I think it's of interest to everyone here.
Thank you and good luck with your important work.
Let me go now to our last topic of the day.
Then we will have some announcements.
So we are, as you know, we are here today to launch a report called Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat.
This report highlights the role climate change played in increasing the number of extreme heat days around the world of the last 12 months.
And today we have we as Doctor Frederica Freddy Hoto from World Weather Attribution and Imperial College in London with one of the quarters of the report and will brief us about it.
And also online there is our colleague Maya Walberg, another quarter of the report from the Red Cross Circus and Climate Centre, ready to answer to questions, particularly on the work done by our teams and on the upcoming Heat Action Day next Sunday.
Thank you very much, Doctor Otto.
And you are talking to you're coming to us from London.
Yeah, thank you very much.
So we are now going to very silent but increasingly common killer that was particularly disastrous last year hate.
So this May that we are just sitting through is hotter than every may any May you've ever experienced before and that was true for the last 12 months.
Temperatures right now have are around 50° in India and Pakistan.
Every heat wave that's happening today is hotter and lasts longer than it would have without human induced climate change, that is without the burning of coal, oil and gas.
And we also see many more heat waves than we would have otherwise.
And the report that we've put together and that you have in front of you today spells out what that means and why it matters.
And of course, what temperatures constitute extreme heat differs depending where you live.
A heat wave in London is different than a heat wave in Delhi.
But no place on Earth is spared from more extreme heat.
The average inhabitant of our planets experienced 26 more days over the last 12 months that were extremely hot than it would would have not been for climate change.
But of course, we are not average people.
We live in a specific place in a specific country.
So, for example, if you lived in Ecuador, it was not 26 more days, but it was 170 more days.
In other words, in the last 12 months, the people in Ecuador experienced 100 of 80 days of extreme heat.
Without climate change, it would have just been 10.
So it's six months of extreme heat instead of 10 days.
Extreme heat is dangerous, leading to excess mortality in the thousands at least.
Heat harms especially vulnerable people, the elderly, the very young, those who have pre-existing health conditions, but also healthy people who are exposed to the extreme temperatures, like outdoor workers in agriculture and construction, and of course people living in refugee camps.
It is thus paramount to stop burning fossil fuels to evade the situation from getting worse.
But we also need to adapt.
26 more days of extreme heat on average.
And heat kills, but it doesn't have to ****.
There are many solutions, some of which are low or no cost, ranging from individual action to population scale interventions that reduce the urban heat island effect.
At an individual level, people can cool their bodies by self dousing with water, using cooling devices for modifying their build environment, just install shatters, increase shade.
But of course, individual action is alone is not sufficient, especially for those that lack access to water, to electricity and to shade.
Action of community, city, regional and country levels is imperative.
Cities can develop and implement heat action plans that outline how they will prepare for the heat season, respond to imminent heat waves and plan for the future.
And on a large scale, policies can be introduced to incorporate cooling needs into social protection programmes, supplement energy costs for the most vulnerable, or building codes can be updated to encourage better housing.
The significant impact of heat waves and the potential to prevent them is why the Red Cross Red Crescent and its partners are mobilising on the 2nd of June for the Global Heat Action Day.
Because if you don't know how dangerous heat is, you can definitely not do any of these matters.
And so we need to raise awareness and engage anyone, all communities in understanding and in what they can do to combat heat.
So I can answer questions about the role of climate change in extreme heat and another extreme weather.
And but my colleague Maya Walbeck from the Red Cross Climate Centre is here and can also answer all questions about vulnerability and exposure.
Thank you very much to both.
I see Jeremy launch heresy.
Can you just explain again what is extreme heat technically speaking, at what temperature do you consider that we can talk about extreme heat?
That's of course the most difficult question you can ask because what extreme heat is depends where you live, but also of course how vulnerable you are.
So if you if you live in a in a city that is extremely well built for heat, then very **** temperatures can can be no problem.
But if you are living in a in a refugee camp with no shade, much lower temperatures can consider very extreme heat.
So in this report we have to find extreme heat just based on on each place on on earth, the 10% every highest temperatures that occur in in that region.
But with our team world weather attribution, we have done a huge amount of studies on individual heat waves and there we characterise the heat depending on the impacts.
So we did a study on the extreme heat in Palestine, Israel, Jordan and Syria where it was very hot for just three days.
So you usually look at the sort of 10 hottest percentage of 5th hottest percentile, which is what we have done for simplicity in this report.
But how much that matters hugely depends on vulnerability.
Yeah, but I was meaning you do have a, a biological limit that you're not supposed to, to, to go over like the body shouldn't be at that temperature.
I don't know if it's 4040 something degrees more than a couple of hours, couple of days.
Can't you just don't you have that in the report that, that, that particularly biological limit.
We don't have the biological limit in in the report.
So the biological limit is based not just on temperature, but also on humidity.
And, and so it's if you, if it's a dry heat wave and you have 40°, that's much less damaging to your body as if it's a very humid, if you have a humidity of 100% and it's 35°, then that's much more, much more damaging for your body.
So we don't have that many days yet globally that are below that are above the biological limit.
But heat is deadly much, much below this absolute biological limit.
And therefore therefore you think just that as a measure would not really is the dangers of heat waves.
Today, heat waves are killing in these 10% above the average, which is why we have used that.
I just wanted to add on that very important point that you were raising, Freddy, that heat waves and extreme heat are very contextual and they always bring risk, the risk of impact on human health.
So coming from a generally cold country such as Sweden, people here are often very are a lot less prepared to cope with heat waves as we lack adequate infrastructure such as air conditioner and cooling centres.
And with this limited infrastructural resilience, acclimatisation and risk awareness, populations in these areas may therefore be more susceptible also to heat related impacts.
And to give an example, in 2018, a three-week heat wave in northern Scandinavia reaching only 31°C in Sweden, it is still estimated to have killed about 600 people in the country, most of whom were older adults who are physiologically more vulnerable to heat.
And I think this exemplifies why we should worry about temperatures that may not be universally considered **** or extreme, but instead focus on what is **** for the exposed community.
And this is definitely something we want to help raise awareness about through Heat Action Day that occurs this Sunday.
Other question to IFRC and colleagues.
I don't see any in the room or on the platform.
Thanks, Thomas, for bringing us this report.
And I have seen the note in the chat that they are asking for your notes, so they'll be sent very quickly.
Thank you very much, Doctor Otto.
And let me go to our colleague from ITU.
David, you are online for an announcement.
I think it's on WSIS and the AI for good summits, please.
So I will get through this not breaking any new ground.
Mostly some from programme notes wishes.
The WSIS plus 20 forum **** level Forum **** level event continues at CICG today and tomorrow and then move side to you headquarters for Thursday and Friday AI Governance day, which we've talked to you about and was the feature for those who want to learn more of the 17 May regular briefing with our colleague Fred Werner that opens tomorrow with the session.
The public session in in the afternoon talking with hosting discussions on how to move from in from principle to implementation on AI governments that's available to be of both physically and remote.
And then the AI for good global Summit continues on Thursday and Friday with a both physical and remote coverage participation available to you.
Friday in particular, I'll just flag that at 1:00 at CICG will be the press conference for which we've issued a media advisory on brain machine interfaces.
So showcasing that technology as was done last year with the humanoid robots, this year on brain machine interface technology powered by artificial intelligence.
And again, just more on a background note, we have asked reporters if you can please RSVP particularly for the press conference.
So we know to expect you either remotely or physically.
That'll just help us accommodate for those for those events.
Our registration again is open and we would impress upon you if you're able to get over to CCV across from CICG to pick up your secondary badge at an off peak hour.
And I know it's busy there for other things, but if you are able, we're in the area to do that.
I'm not in the early mornings when we expect the lines to be the biggest.
Hi, David, nice to see you.
I'm sure you're very busy at the moment.
I just had a question about your press release last night.
I'm having to do with this partner to connect topping 50 billion U.S.
That sounds like a lot of money and I'm just wondering is that money going through ITU?
Is it just money that you have rallied together?
I mean that's, you know, is this just private sector and you guys are kind of putting an umbrella over it.
I mean, how much of that is actually going through ITU?
The money is mobilised from Partner to Connect, which is a global platform for to expand digital connectivity.
Those commitments are brought into the Partner to Connect system or pledging platform, which is what the announcement is about.
Money doesn't come through necessarily into ITU.
It's it's their industry commitments, their government commitments.
There could be civil society commitments once they're in the system.
This provides visibility over those amounts and allows others to know what's being committed in the system, allows those to be leveraged to see where to see where entities are, are, are putting their investments and also allows for those that might need those investments for those to be to be able to be seen.
So it does raise visibility.
Currently, as you mentioned and at the very end of that release, there's a link on the pledging platform, you'll notice there's just over 50 billion, 50.96 billion in commitments that have been committed to the partner to commit, excuse me, to the partner to connect pledging platform.
That's over 900 pledges received from 400 entities and about 140 or so countries.
And I would just other also say that there is an overall goal of having 100 billion pledged to the partner to connect a pledging platform by 2026.
So part of the announcement yesterday was that there was just topping the 50 billion point, which is the halfway mark towards that 100 billion.
Is there any other question to ITU?
I don't see any, but I think there is a question On the contrary for WHO on the assembly.
I don't know if Fidela or Margaret want to come to the podium.
Margaret, maybe if you can also come to the podium because Lisa had put a question in the chat.
But Fidela, please come and I'll ask Ben to ask his question.
Deja merci de Verduvine, My question relevance, we don't.
Well, I'll ask it in English because it's of general interest.
Just to know what is the timeline this afternoon for the decision on the pandemic treaty?
Maybe you have details and can we hope for an official announcement before tonight so that we can speak about it tomorrow morning?
Thank you for the question.
Today in Committee A, we will have at least four important issues to be discussed, The Who budget, the Global Programme of work and also the investment round.
And two major discussion, one about the amendment to the International Health Regulation and the IMB.
So what I can tell you is, as you know, these are two processes led by Member States.
So it's up to them to decide what to do with the 2 reports that are already on the website, one about the AHR and the other one on the INB in six languages that you can read.
You can see there that some parts of the two document are highlighted in yellow or in grey or bold.
So you will see what are the issues that are still to be discussed and negotiated.
So to be very short and clear, it's really up to member state to decide what to do with this to report.
Do they want to continue the negotiation this week?
Do they want to decide on a date to resume negotiation?
It's really up to, so we will let you know end of today in a press release what is the decision of member State.
They may also decide to open the discussion and say we will discuss it later in the week.
So it's really up to them to decide what to do with it.
Following up on that, if, if they decide in the committee today that they want to continue or make a decision, is that a final decision or do we have to wait for the plenary at the end when this is finalised?
If you could just explain how that works.
And also I had a question on the issue of the Palestinian Territories, which I think is coming tomorrow.
If we have, if you could just explain what's going to happen there and how to follow things.
OK, So you know that for INB they haven't reached a consensus, they don't have a final report to submit to the World Health Assembly.
So we have the report, what is called the report by the Director general to Member States.
So with still a lot of issues to be discussed, to be negotiated.
So the report we have is the report by the DG explaining what is the progress made since the beginning of discussion on the INB and nine meetings took place since then to discuss this report.
So it's not a final text, it's the report by the Director General to member states.
So as I said, I don't know what will happen this week, what member state will decide to do with this report.
It's really up to them to decide the step forward, to take this discussion forward.
Yeah, I, I know there's no deal.
I was asking if they decide that they want to continue discussions or if they want to cut off this.
I mean, if they decide in the committee.
I know that often the discussions, things are happening in the committee and then they have to be approved in plenary.
I'm just wondering if we have to wait for a final decision until the end of the week or if we can just assume that the whatever is decided in the committee is, is the final decision on on which way they're going.
Usually what is decided in committee A or B should go to the plenary.
We have three days, three moments in a day until such a day where the plenary meets, nine, 12:36 PM.
So there are three moments in the day where the plenary resumes.
So anything that is decided in one or two of the committees or Committee A or B should go to the plenary.
And on Gaza, can you just repeat the question, sorry, what are you expecting to happen and when and how?
Also are there resolutions around this?
If you could just explain what's going to happen.
On the Palestinian issue, I need to check if they have decided to open Committee B today, because usually it's in Committee B that OPT is discussed at the Word Health Assembly.
Just to let you know that we have two important document on the agenda of the Word Health Assembly.
One is document A WHA 12 and a second one AWHA 7718.
So the 12 document is a report by the DG about the situation in OPT since 7 October.
So this is the most recent one.
And we have, as you know, the regular report by the DG about OPT and IS, Jerusalem and Syrian and occupied Syrian Golan.
It's the document #18 and it is about the situation in this region since from January to before October 7th.
So I will just really invite you to have a look at this 2 document 12 and 18.
So if there is a discussion about OPT, normally it's Wednesday afternoon in Committee B.
But given the situation now, I will have to check if they decide to open Committee B to discuss Palestine today.
And I will send you an e-mail about this.
I thought you were online 10 minutes ago.
I was virtual, but I'm flash of blood now.
Fidela, following up on the questions on the pandemic treaty, is there a website where you're posting the various draught resolutions that are being put forward by Member states?
When I went to the site on resolutions, there was nothing there and I understand a couple have circulated today.
Let me check because I know that several resolution, the resolution of the word that assembly should be posted on the website.
If there are no other question on the assembly, I give the floor to oh, sorry, go ahead.
We sent you this morning WJ highlights pointing to you different things that are happening today.
We have two strategic round tables, one on the investment case, another on expanded programme of immunisation.
We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of this wonderful initiative that saved millions lives, especially children, and I believe my colleagues now are sending you the names of the speakers at these two events.
One is happening at the Palais here, the one on the investment case, and the second one is happening at Chateau de Pont this afternoon.
So you may have received by now the long and interesting list of people speaking at this two event.
Of course, it's all webcast, so you can also follow it online.
Can you just remind us for the sake of the record, what WHO's position, the Secretariat's position is on the need for a pandemic accord or amendments to IHR to improve readiness and and response in case of a pandemic?
How important is this for you to get a deal this week?
I am glad that you understand it's a process led by Member states.
You know, what we have been through with the COVID pandemic is really important and we need to take lessons from what happened for all of us.
No one was not touched or affected by COVID-19.
So it's important for countries to get prepared for the next pandemic.
The question is when we will have a new pandemic, not if we will have 1.
So it's very important to stress the need for equity, for sharing of health products and other diagnostics, and also to make sure that we have the finance we need and also to respond quickly for any emergency happening in countries.
I think Member States, they all agree that it's important, but as you know, multilateral negotiation can be difficult and can be long.
So the question is when are they going to agree on the most important issue, sharing of viruses and other benefits.
It's not something that it's new to member states.
It's just that now they are not negotiating several issues to make sure that we are better prepared.
So let's see what this week will will bring to us.
And all member states will have been working really for more than two years, very, very long hours.
The the only thing that we are expecting today is what are the next steps?
This is what we are all waiting for.
Thank you very much, Lisa.
If it's for the figures of the people to be evacuated, Margaret is ready.
Stay on the on the podium.
This is a catch up on the question I didn't ask before and that is?
If if you have the numbers of people who are waiting to be evacuated, I know that previously you mentioned that you don't know how many have may have died since October 7th, but but what the current figures are and also could you describe the kind of a medical emergencies that require their evacuation of for for which which is not happening?
There are there are two basic categories.
Before October 7th, between 50 and 100 people went every day for definitive treatment, for complicated medical illnesses, for things like cancer, for things like the complications of of heart disease or other treatment that wasn't specifically available in the Gaza Strip.
So they would be referred out.
Now those people didn't go away simply because conflict started.
So they all still needed referral and and services also got disrupted.
So at one point we referred a lot of children who couldn't, could no longer get their chemotherapy for their cancers.
They were referred to different countries and different host countries.
But this is a large number of people who did not get to go out or did not get approval at some point.
And the numbers fluctuate because sadly, again, if it's something like a kidney disease or a heart disease or cancer, you will die while you're waiting to get your definitive treatment.
And so generally we're saying around 10,000 at any time will be needing to be evacuated.
And there's another group.
So having said that, there were people who had underlying conditions that needed definitive treatment.
Then what's been added to that group are the people who have suffered severe traumatic injuries.
Burns, again, are things that need very, very complex treatment, often skin and transplantation and all sorts of different definitive treatment to get through your burns.
But if you don't get that treatment, you die.
So again, we have and other people who've got severe limb injuries, severe head injuries, severe chest injuries that again won't recover from those injuries unless they get the definitive complex treatment that's available elsewhere.
And we've got at least 6000 people in that category.
But again, it fluctuates according to whether they can get out because if they don't get the treatment, sadly they die.
We do know of at least 1000 people whose since the escalation in hostilities and the increase in the number of people being injured.
We do know of 1000 people since May 7 who need to be referred out.
And as I said, it is tracked and I have asked the the health cluster partners to see if they can give, you know, more granular, more detailed information on that.
And I'll provide that once I've got it.
Thank you very much, Margaret.
And since I don't see other questions, but before I let we pass to another subject, let me also remind you that today is Menstrual Hygiene Day.
It's, it's an important day for health, really.
And, and if you consider that every month more than 2 billion people around the world menstruates.
Although a natural and healthy process, menstruation interrupts lives, rights and freedoms of millions of women and girls because they cannot afford or access menstrual products, sanitation and hygiene facilities and lack education and awareness to manage their menstrual health and hygiene.
So, on this very important day, the Movement Against.
Poverty celebrates 10 years of collective action by women and girls worldwide.
Today and everyday make talking about periods and normal part of life and take action to end.
Poverty and we have a long description of the problems and of the action taken on the website of UN Women.
So if there are no other question for our colleagues, I'll let them go.
I just want to remind you that there is another International Day coming.
It's the 29th of May, International Day of UN Peacekeepers.
As you know, the international community celebrates this day and pay tribute to all the men and women who have served in UN peacekeeping operations, whether as military, police or civilians.
It is a day to recognise their **** level of professionalism, dedication and courage and to honour the memory of those who have lost their lives in the in the cause of peace.
And I'd like to remind you that we will commemorate this day, but not on the 29th.
There will be on the 31st, Friday, 31st of May at 3:00 PM in the Ariana Park.
If the weather assists us, because I hear possibility of thunderstorms as usual, we will have a ceremony with you in Geneva.
The Permanent Representative of Nepal will be there, the International Association of Searches of Peace.
And for the first time, we will also have the participation of Swiss Int, which is the centre of the Swiss Armoured Forces, responsible for the conduct of peace support operations abroad.
So I hope you will join us on this particular day.
And I just wanted to remind you that the Committee on Domination of Discrimination against Women will close the 88th session next Friday and will issue the concluding observation of the eight countries reviewed.
So I just forgot to tell you that the conference on this armament had this morning.
The is adding actually still their public plenary meeting, which is the first under the presidency of Abdul Karim Ashim Mustafa of Iraq.
If there are no other question, I thank you for having followed this very long briefing.
Thank you very much for your participation and to colleagues and I'll see you on Friday.
