The United Nations Office at Geneva
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UN Geneva Press Briefing - 06 Aug 2024
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1:13:13
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MP4
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UN GENEVA PRESS BRIEFING
6 August 2024
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired a hybrid briefing, which was attended by the spokespersons and representatives of the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the World Meteorological Organization, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
COVID-19 update
Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, Director of Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness & Prevention at the World Health Organization (WHO), stressed that COVID-19 was still very much with us and was circulating in all countries. Data from WHO’s sentinel-based surveillance system across 84 countries reported that the percent of positive tests for SARS-CoV-2 had been rising for several weeks. Overall, test positivity was above 10 percent, but this fluctuated per region. In Europe, for example, percent positivity was above 20 percent. In recent months, regardless of the season, many countries had experienced surges, including at the Olympics, where at least 40 athletes had been tested positive. Governments needed to continue to invest and support a global understanding of circulation and impact and provide their populations with the tools to protect themselves and care for people suffering from acute and long-term effects of COVID-19, including post COVID-19 condition. Regular and robust risk assessments, improved ventilation, and high vaccination coverage were among recommendations to governments around the world, said Dr. Van Kerkhove. Countries were urged to share more genetic sequences and regularly report data on hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths. WHO urged more financial support to study post-COVID long term conditions. Finally, as individuals, we all needed to take steps to reduce the risk of infection. Billions of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered around the world, preventing millions of deaths. The highest-risk groups should receive their new COVID-19 vaccines within 12 months of their last dose, said Dr. Van Kerkhove. Governments ought to secure adequate supplies of both COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, ahead of the cold season in the northern hemisphere, stressed Dr. Van Kerkhove.
Responding to questions from the media, Dr. Van Kerkhove said that at the Olympics in Paris, the authorities, in cooperation with the WHO, had taken a number of measures to prevent spread of infectious diseases. More people than before were wearing masks at the Olympic Games. The levels of COVID-19 impact were different now, compared to 2020-2022. Governments needed to make sure that their at-risk populations were vaccinated at least once in 12 months; those vaccines should be given along with influenza vaccines. The critical question was when the last dose had been administered, especially for people over 60 and vulnerable groups. Dr. Van Kerkhove said that the WHO looked at trends from month to month. Hospitalization rates had increased in the Americas, Europe, and the Pacific; only 35 countries or territories were providing relevant information with the WHO.
The true toll of COVID-19 deaths was still unknown. Some six percent of all COVID-19 cases had gone on to develop post-COVID symptoms, which meant many millions of people were now suffering from long COVID. Vaccines needed to be made available to populations, especially those at risk. Regarding the availability of vaccines, there was clearly a decrease in demand, but the virus was not gone, said Dr. Van Kerkhove. There was a large section of the population that required vaccines on a regular basis, so there could be no talk that there was no “market” for the vaccines. WHO could not put COVID-19 on the back burner as much as we might wish to do so personally.
Also answering questions, Dr. Van Kerkhove said that a lot of work had been happening to encourage technology transfer to African countries. There had been a significant attempt to increase MRNA vaccine production capacities on all continents. Work had also been done to increase the capacity for regulatory approval of vaccines, and also to address misinformation and disinformation.
WHO did not operate on fear but on various scenarios, for all of which preparedness was necessary. Individuals needed to understand and minimize their own risk. Any approved vaccine would help prevent severe stress and death, stressed Dr. Van Kerkhove.
Answering a question on mpox, Dr. Van Kerkhove said that the Director-General of WHO was considering calling an emergency meeting to discuss the rising numbers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and surrounding countries. There were several licensed vaccines, which should be made available to vulnerable groups. The decision to call an emergency meeting rested with Dr. Tedros.
July – a month of extreme heat
Clare Nullis, for the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), said that extreme heat had hit hundreds of millions of people throughout July, with a domino effect felt right across society. The world’s hottest day on recent record, 22 July 2024, had been recently registered. This was another unwelcome indication of the extent that greenhouse gases from human activities are changing our climate. Global average temperatures for 13 consecutive months (from June 2023 to June 2024) had set new monthly records and the data for July - from WMO-recognized datasets - would confirm whether this exceptional streak continues for yet another month. It underlined the urgency of the Call to Action on Extreme Heat issued by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who said that “Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.”
Widespread, intense, and extended heatwaves had hit every continent in the past year. At least ten countries had recorded daily temperatures of more than 50° C in more than one location. Death Valley in California had registered a record average monthly temperature of 42.5 °C, possibly a new record observed for anywhere in the world. Even the remote frozen ice sheets of Antarctica have been feeling the heat. Ms. Nullis stressed the importance of adaptation. Recent estimates produced by the WMO and the World Health Organization indicated that the global scale-up of heat health-warning systems for 57 countries alone had the potential to save an estimated 98,000 lives per year, which was one of the priorities of the Early Warnings For All initiative. Climate adaptation alone was not enough. Root causes had to be tackled.
Alvaro Silva, climate expert at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), speaking from Lisbon, said that globally, 22 July had been the hottest day, and 23 July had been a virtual tie, in the reanalysis dataset from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, one of the contributing factors was much above-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica, with anomalies of more than 10°C above average in some areas, and above average temperatures in parts of the Southern Ocean. In Asia, past July was the warmest on record. In Africa, temperature records had been broken in Morocco, while southern and southeastern Europe had also experienced extreme, record-breaking heat. Heat was becoming more persistent in many parts of the world; Las Vegas, for example, had experienced more than 40 days of temperatures over 40 degrees.
Replying to questions, Ms. Nullis explained that a lot of adaptation could be done through early warnings. Many cities in India had introduced heatwave contingency plans, which included adjusting working hours. Air conditioning had a heavy carbon footprint and could not be considered a solution. Temperatures in heavily built-up urban areas were notably higher in greener areas, so planting trees in cities was one simple yet effective way to act. It was difficult to get accurate statistics at the time, as extreme heat was still rather underreported as a cause of death. It was nearly impossible to have real-time estimates of heat-caused deaths, added Mr. Silva. Early warning against incoming heatwaves was one of the best ways to protect the population; however, people were still sometimes not aware of the risks, or were not taking adequate action.
More information is available here.
Zeina Awad, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), reminded of the ILO’s report on the effect of heat on the world of work.
Landslides in Ethiopia
Paula Fitzgerald, Head of Country Cluster Delegation for Ethiopia and Djibouti at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), speaking from Addis Ababa, said that 30 pregnant and lactating women had been among more than 240 people who had died in landslides in south Ethiopia at the end of July. Heavy rains between 21 and 22 July had triggered successive landslides in the remote mountainous regions of southern Ethiopia, causing significant loss of life and devastation. Some 3,600 people had moved to safer areas. The Ethiopian Red Cross Society had sent an assessment team to Gofa, witnessing families torn apart and parents who had lost their children, and vice versa.
There were reports of another landslide event in southern Ethiopia just overnight, said Ms. Fitzgerald. The rough terrain had made rescue more difficult. Malaria and measles cases had been reported. Despite the challenges, the Red Cross had mobilized quickly and worked with the authorities to provide necessary support. Needs were immense, as large swathes of population were affected. On 2 August, an emergency CHF 6 million appeal had been launched to support and provide early recovery activities in the affected zones. IFRC was committed to a long-term approach and would focus on recovery, cash-assistance, and general resilience. This comprehensive multisectoral approach should help communities recover beyond the emergency stage.
More details are available here.
Some 15,500 people had been affected in total, said Ms. Fitzgerald in response to a question. Landslides happened every year, but this one was particularly tragic.
Announcements
Zeina Awad, for the International Labour Organization (ILO), informed that on 6 August at 10:30 am, report Global Employment Trends for Youth 2024 would be launched. Speakers at the press conference, under embargo until 12 August, would be Gilbert Houngbo, ILO Director-General; Mia Seppo, ILO Assistant Director-General for Jobs and Social Protection; and Sara Elder, Head of the Employment Analyses & Economic Policies Unit. Employment trends would be segregated by region and gender. The report would also be looking at the NEET rate: young people not in education, employment, or training. This was the twentieth anniversary of the report, said Ms. Awad.
Alessandra Vellucci, for the United Nations Information Service (UNIS), informed that the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, which had opened its one hundred and thirteenth session on 5 August, would begin this afternoon the review of the report of Venezuela.
Teleprompter
OK, let's start the briefing of the UN Geneva
Information Service. Today is Tuesday, sixth of August
and I have the great pleasure to have with me together with Tarik Kvi
Dr
Maria Van
Kerkow
that
I mean, I don't think she needs any presentation.
But she is the director of the interim of the epidemic and pandemic
Preparedness and prevention.
And Covid is 19 years back.
No, I don't know if he's back, but you are here to tell us about it.
So thank you very much. And thanks for having me here. Good morning, everyone.
So thank you very much for the opportunity
to brief you on the current covidnineteen situation,
the outlook in the coming months and our
major ass to governments and individuals to reduce covid
nineteen's impact. It hasn't gone away. Unfortunately,
I especially welcome this opportunity in the
context of ongoing crises that countries,
communities, families and individuals are facing.
I have three main messages. First, Covidnineteen is still very much with us.
The virus is circulating in all countries.
Data from our sentinel based systems across 84 countries reports
that the percent of positive tests for SARS Covid
two has been rising over the last several weeks.
Overall test positivity is above 10%
but this fluctuates by region. In Europe, percent positivity is over 20%.
Water surveillance.
Water wastewater surveillance suggests that the circulation of SARS Kobe two is
2 to 20 times higher than that what is currently being reported.
This is significant because the virus continues to evolve and change.
Which puts puts us all at risk of potentially more severe viruses
that could evade our detection and our or our medical interventions,
including vaccination.
Such high concentrations is not quote unquote typical
for respiratory viruses that tend to increase in circulation
in the colder months.
In recent months, regardless of the season,
many countries have experienced surges of COVID-19, including at the Olympics.
Currently, there are at least 40 athletes who have tested positive.
These surges have resulted in increases in
hospitalizations and deaths in many countries.
This needs to be prevented
the leading to my second point.
Governments need to continue to invest and support our global
understanding of the circulation and impact of this virus,
and to provide their populations with the tools to protect themselves
and care for people people suffering from acute and long term effects of COVID-19,
including post COVID-19 condition, also called on covid.
The fundamentals of dealing with covid
um, are critical for all of the threats that we face,
including avian influenza MO dengue
cholera.
These include comprehensive and strategic surveillance and sequencing,
sharing of information across sectors, regular and robust risk assessment,
supportive and early diagnosis for optimal clinical care.
Prevention of infection through infection prevention and control measures,
improved ventilation, smart use of masks,
respirators and other personal protective equipment.
And high vaccination coverage, especially in people who are most at risk.
WHO advises countries to maintain core SARS co V two
surveillance using multiple approaches to meet key strategic objectives,
especially to characterise circulating viruses
and for early detection and clinical care of patients.
WHO urges countries to share more genetic
sequences and to report more on hospitalizations,
IC, U, admissions and deaths
as we rely on this to conduct our risk assessments and measure burden
in 2024 35 countries reported data on hospitalizations,
24 on IC U admissions and 70 on deaths.
We are blind in terms of understanding burden.
WHO urges countries to continue to sharpen
their pandemic preparedness readiness and response systems,
which they have worked very hard on during COVID-19
to be ready for surges of covid as well
as other emerging threats like avian influenza and Pakistani
WHO urges more financial support and attention to post COVID-19 condition.
There is much we still do not know and we need to
provide stronger recommendations for prevention and
care and more research is needed.
This is a priority for WHO.
The DG issued standing recommendations and these stand in effect
Third, as individuals, it is important to take measures to reduce risk of infection
and severe disease,
including ensuring that you have had a COVID-19
vaccination dose in the last 12 months,
especially if you are in an at risk group.
Billions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been safely administered globally
since 2021 preventing millions of cases severe severe disease and death.
Over the last two years, we've seen an alarming decline in vaccination coverage,
especially among health workers and people over 62 of the most at risk groups.
This urgently needs to be turned around.
WHO recommends that people in the highest risk group receive
a covid vaccine within 12 months of their last dose.
It's not just a matter of if you've been vaccinated,
but when you have been vaccinated
to increase uptake and therefore protection.
WHO recommends country Consider coadministration of
COVID-19 vaccines with seasonal influenza vaccines
in the Northern Hemisphere.
We will be entering the colder months soon,
but we have seen that COVID-19 will circulate in all climates, all zones.
So it is important that governments take steps to increase and
ensure adequate supplies of COVID-19 vaccines as well as influenza vaccines.
Make sure that they are available especially for their at risk populations.
So to conclude the virus is here to stay.
But the future impact of COVID-19 is up to us.
WHO will continue to work with governments to ensure systems that were built and
strengthened during COVID-19 are maintained to tackle
this virus and other emerging threats.
Thank you.
Thank you very much, Minister Completely corrected. It never went away.
But we are happy to have you here back at the briefing.
So is there any question?
U
is
Rhianna
vs.
Thank you,
Dr Ko.
My first question is about the Olympics in Paris.
You said that more than 40 athletes have been tested positive.
Do you think that because there is a lot of people now in Paris,
they have to wear masks as it was the case during the 2021 and
2020 year. Or do you think that this is not something that they need to do right now?
And do you think that all the
governments may have to put more
strength to vaccinate people?
Because this is something that we are not hearing right now.
There is nothing about the vaccination in our daily life.
So do you think that this is something that has to come back? Thank you.
So thank you very much for these two questions.
Um, first to the question related to the Olympics.
Sorry. Thank you. I'm a novice at the at the press conferences. I think
thanks very much for the question on the Olympics. Um,
the Olympics. Um,
authorities working together with us have taken a large number of
measures to prevent infectious disease circulation at the Olympics itself.
Um, it's really incredible and and comprehensive of what they've done.
What I do understand.
I mean, we don't have the same measures that are in place that we saw in Beijing,
and we saw in Tokyo.
But circulation and impact of covid is certainly different than it was before.
We have, um, observed, um, more people wearing masks at the Olympics.
And I think that is, uh,
to take into consideration the circulation of SARS covid two,
but also other respiratory threats that are there,
um, there are measures, other measures that are in place in terms of testing,
early testing, clinical care.
Um, so I think that the Olympic Committee, um, working together with us,
our mass gatherings team have looked at all of
the different approaches that need to be in place.
And I think they're taking the right measures.
It's not surprising to see athletes being infected because, as I said before,
the virus is circulating quite rampant
in other countries. What's very different now is the impact.
We aren't seeing the levels of impact like we saw in 2020 2021 2022.
Um, and that's because we have therapeutics.
We have better testing,
and we have protection because of past infection as well as vaccination.
On your second question, absolutely.
Governments need to be strengthening their approach to using covid vaccines.
Um, especially ahead of the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere.
But as I've pointed out, the virus takes advantage to circulate, uh,
whenever it can.
So making sure that the at risk populations are
vaccinated at least once every 12 months is really critical
to increase uptake.
Um, we're asking for countries to consider coadministration with influenza,
which we hope if a person comes in it,
it takes a lot to get a person to come in to get vaccinated.
Um, and it's different now in terms of the vaccination, um,
plans, the way that countries have actually rolled out.
If you remember, I think it's it's fresh in everyone's mind.
The vaccination campaigns were quite incredible, Uh,
during the crisis point of of Covid.
But now, for the older age groups, they come in for influenza vaccines.
They should be getting their COVID-19 vaccines as well.
But But my big point here is it's not just I hear a lot of people say, Well,
I've already been vaccinated, you know,
I've had I had two doses or I've had three doses.
Some people have not had any doses,
but what's really critical is when was your last dose? If you are over 60.
If you have underlying conditions,
you need to be vaccinated at least once every 12 months.
So when were you last vaccinated?
And we're asking governments to ensure that their campaigns include COVID-19, uh,
vaccines for this this coming year.
Ok, Ok, thank you very much. If there no other, uh, question IN the room.
Let me go to the platform.
Jil
Shade.
Yes. Hello. How are you? Good morning.
Um, I would like to ask a couple of questions on numbers.
Um, So you mentioned,
um
uh, that 35 countries have, uh,
uh, informed about hospitalizations.
What is the rate you mentioned? Deaths?
What is the rate?
Um
uh, you mentioned, uh, the alarming, uh, reduction on vaccination.
What is the number? So if you could put all of this that you've said,
uh,
in numbers would be very useful to all of us. Thank you.
Thank you for the the question and the very specific one,
which I will not be able to give you as specific of an answer as I would like.
and I have to caveat this is because the information that I am able
to provide is based on what is provided to WHO through official reporting.
But also, we've gone back to,
um, I. I was told the word is not trolling but scrolling websites.
Um, where we actually pull down Ministry of Health reports
and pull data together to add to our dashboard
what I could tell you on the hospitalizations and the IC U admissions.
We look at trends month by month,
and what we're trying to see is together with with wastewater estimates,
which we have from a number of country.
And these are on our dashboard.
Um, the wastewater increases in case detection.
Give us about a 2 to 3 week head start of when we might start to see hospitalizations
on the hospitalisation rates. We've seen increases in the Americas.
We've seen increases in Europe.
Um, in recent months, we've seen increases in the Western Pacific.
Um, 35 countries out of 234 countries and territories
are providing this information.
Now that number may fluctuate a little bit, depending on the month, but on average,
it's about 3535 out of 234.
So about 15%
of available countries territories
have that information to share with us
on IC U. It's even less 24 out of 234 in the last month alone.
So that's about 10%
of the availa
available countries and territories that could have that type of information.
Now absolute numbers of hospital admissions and IC U are much,
much lower than they were during the peak of covid.
Um 2020 2021 2022 for sure.
But we still feel that there's much more that needs to be done.
I find it very difficult to talk about this in terms of the burden,
because the argument I get back as well you know, Maria,
it's so much less than it was before.
It's so much less than it was. And absolutely that's true.
But there's still a lot of people that are currently suffering from hospital, uh,
from severe disease requiring IC U admission and who are dying,
then and that can be prevented because we
have tools that are available and that exist,
on the deaths we have, we don't have enough data.
I think, on deaths to really understand,
um, the impact of this,
um and I think that's becoming a bigger challenge.
The estimates that we have for excess mortality only go up to the end of 2021.
We don't have estimates for 2023 or even 2024.
So the true toll in terms of severe disease of post covid condition of deaths, um,
is really unknown.
I should mention,
in terms of numbers that about 6% of symptomatic individuals with covid,
um, are estimated to have gone on to develop post covid condition.
Now, infections are still continuing.
So that number, um, is based on an old meta analysis.
But 6% of infections of symptomatic infections
and we've had billions of infections.
This is a massive burden. So a lot more work needs to be done
on vaccination.
Um, we collect data
up to the end of 2023. We were collecting data by quarter,
uh, by excuse me by month,
and now we're collecting data by quarter and by every six months,
so we're changing the way that we report vaccination coverage.
Um, the latest data that I have really is from the end of the year at the end of 2023
where I mean, I can show you a figure,
and I can share the figure with with you in terms of the coverage over.
You know,
the the first quarter of 2024 10 million people received a dose of COVID-19 vaccine,
and that's different from a peak of 1.7 million
that repeated that, uh, received a dose one month at the peak of 2021.
So clearly there's a decline.
Um, but again, the question is around the risk groups,
Um and this is really concerning for us.
If you ask in, every single country is having this problem,
not just low income countries.
It's more severe low income countries.
But in high income countries, um,
the the percent coverage of health care workers and
over 60 is I would characterise as abysmal.
So there's a lot of work that needs to be
done here when safe and effective vaccines are available.
We need governments to make these affordable.
We need updated vaccines to to be, um,
to be purchasable and available to countries and to be provided to people,
especially those who are at risk.
Thank you very much. Isabel
Saco, Spanish news Agency.
Good morning,
uh,
I would like to ask about also about the vaccines
because I heard about the shortage of O of vaccines,
Uh, here in Switzerland
and I wonder if this is a problem that you are observing in, uh,
more generally in in Europe or in other regions
in the world. If you can talk about the production of vaccines, uh,
the stocks of of vaccines.
And if you can comment on,
uh,
a little bit more if the decline of vaccines
that you think is because there is there is less
less concern
or people are are ignoring that the the disease is, uh, still circulating
or if, uh, this is a problem of also access to the vaccines. Thank you.
Thanks. These These are great questions.
I'll start with the second part of your question. First,
there certainly is a decline. Um, I think in in demand for a couple of reasons.
One because the perception that covid is gone is real.
Um, it's not in the news anymore.
And of course,
it can't be because there are so many other crises that the world is facing.
But the virus isn't gone. So what?
We're asking governments to do is to put this into context,
not forget what we've done with Covid.
And I think I mean for me, what I've seen in in my recent travels in the last year,
the last year and a half to even discuss covid um is very, very difficult.
I really think that the trauma that we've all gone through,
um, how extreme it was.
We all wanna put this in the past, and that's completely understandable.
Um, as an individual.
But as organisations like ours,
like the World Health Organisation and working with governments,
we cannot put this
on the back burner.
We have to continue to work with governments to ensure that the demand increases.
Um, because these safe and effective vaccines,
many of which have been updated with the latest
strains with the latest variants that are in circulation
um, are available. Um, certainly the availability of vaccines has declined.
Um, has declined substantially, um, over the last 1218 months.
Um, and this is because the number of producers of vaccines has declined.
Um, it is very difficult for them to maintain, um, the pace,
and certainly they don't need to maintain the pace
that they that they had in 2021 and 2022.
But let's be very clear. There is a market for COVID-19 vaccines that are out there.
I don't want
here anymore that there's no market for this.
There's an entire global population of
people over 60 people with underlying condition
immunocompromised individuals that require a COVID-19 dose every 12 months.
So there is a market that is out there.
We also are working very hard to address a lot of misinformation,
disinformation, campaign campaigns, anti
vax campaigns that are not only affecting covid but affecting many other, um,
vaccines, Um, that are out there that are putting many people at risk,
including Children, for other diseases.
We need to work very hard collectively to make sure that we address concerns.
We address questions,
but we also, um, tackle the demand issue.
So we are discussing with manufacturers um, their updated plans, um, to produce,
uh, covid vaccine vex COVID-19 vaccines.
And we would like to stimulate investment
in research and development for more vaccines.
Um, not just necessarily for SARS covid two, but more broadly for coronaviruses.
And we're also hoping, um,
that investment is maintained for the nasal
vaccines that could potentially address transmission.
These would be total game changer.
If we could address transmission, we could reduce the risk of the further variants.
We could reduce the risk of infection. Therefore, severe disease, et cetera.
So we feel that there's a lot more work to do which are beneficial. Not only,
you know, in these investments for for SARS covid two,
but other coronaviruses that we may face in the future.
Thank you very much. Uh, Lisa Schlein, Voice of America.
Yes. Good morning. And good morning to you all.
Um, still on the vaccine situation. First, I have a couple of questions.
Um, what is WHO doing in regard to the African continent? Among others, Uh, maybe
during the,
uh,
the last pandemic. Not that it's gone away.
Uh
uh. Africa was particularly vulnerable,
and, uh, they were very poor on vaccines.
Now, is anything being done in terms of trying to,
uh, send vaccines to the continent?
Uh, that's, uh, you know, and and what needs to be done to help them as, uh,
as they are more vulnerable than the rich countries.
Um, also, um,
there is a belief that the new strains of uh,
covid are not as V virulent as those in the past and that
that, uh, if somebody gets infected, Well, OK, it can be treated, you know,
and they're not gonna die from this.
Is this truly the case and could should people be so
nonchalant And,
uh
and you have, of course, shown your alarm. But I would like to ask you
how alarmed are you at
the seeming lack of concern and lack of preparation by governments,
uh, to address
what could perhaps be another really awful covid pandemic. Thank you.
So thanks very much on the first question in
terms of what's being done across the African continent,
there's a number of things, um, that are happening,
Um, and that have been happening over the last couple of years.
Uh, we can also provide links, uh, to these answers to give you some more updates.
But first,
um, there's a lot of work that's been happening
to encourage more technology transfer so that when these vaccines
are developed that that tech that transfer is is,
um, supplied to others that can produce, um,
vaccines so that there isn't a monopoly on the development of any of these vaccines.
This is true for Covid. We would like to see this for other pathogens as well.
Second, there has been, uh,
a significant increase in efforts to increase the MRN A hubs, um, globally.
So again that we have production capacity increased on all continents
and there has been some advancement in this. This is gonna take some time,
but it it doesn't require just the launch
of a project but the sustained investment so
that these MRN a hubs are maintained and can be used not just for SARS.
Kobe two, but for MRN a vaccines.
Third, there has been an increase in the capacity to have regulatory approval
ethical approval in country, including across the African continent,
so that the ownership remains in the continent itself,
in the countries themselves.
Again,
Um, there's a lot of work happening at country level.
Um, fourth, there's a lot of effort to address misinformation,
disinformation campaigns,
which affect all countries which are being
disseminated through many different types of platforms,
not just online but across radio and S MS,
um, through social media that needs to be continuously addressed
and fi fifth.
These are just five of many examples I
could give the delivery systems for vaccine use.
We saw an entire global effort need to deliver COVID-19 vaccines for
the entire life course from chi Children all all the way through adults
at health care facilities, at community facilities in communities.
And so that delivery system is being adjusted. Built on what we've done for measles.
What we've done for polio,
what we've done for covid to make sure that that is strengthened
should we need to continue to deliver across the entire life course.
And we will need to give vaccines across that life course.
So a number of different things are happening here and we must do better.
We must do better.
I know that you are well aware of the
INB discussions across the member states to have a pandemic
accord that also needs to maintain the I HR revisions
are a substantial improvement and a real needed boost.
Um, for all of us working in this space, that's another area, um,
of increase in terms of how alarmed I am.
I think you know me. Uh, quite well, in terms of the way that I speak, I am concerned.
Um, we don't sit here and and and try to speak based on fear.
What we work on our scenarios,
what our worry is with such low coverage, especially in the at risk groups.
And I'm not saying other groups don't need to be vaccinated
with such low coverage and with such large circulation.
If we were to have a variant that would be more severe,
then the susceptibility of the at risk
populations to develop severe disease is huge,
and it's huge in every country.
We saw this in previous outbreaks
in almost every single country, high income as well as low income.
We are comparing the current circulating variants to Delta
to beta to Alpha. Remember those to the ancestral strain.
And certainly we have seen,
um, the whole spectrum of disease from asymptomatic infection to death,
even with the current variants.
But, yes, absolutely. We are not seeing the same level of impact.
That's not necessarily
of the virus itself.
It's because people have been infected and reinfected multiple times.
It's because people have those who are lucky
to have been vaccinated have been vaccinated.
We have treatment there. There's better clinical care.
There's so many other reasons why we're seeing reduced impact,
but we want to keep that up
in terms of the variant.
You know, the more the virus circulates, the more opportunities it has to change.
This virus is in many different animal species, not just the white tailed deer,
but a large number of animals where we're seeing this reverse zoonosis
human to animals, animals to humans.
These viruses can change, and we can have a mutation that would make it more severe.
So we don't operate on fear. We operate in scenarios.
And so we have to be ready to, uh, to surge up and to surge down, as as is necessary.
But because of this,
Um, But because of this, um,
these challenges that we face with all of these other crises,
Covid doesn't have the attention that it needs Now.
I would argue that on an everyday basis, people out there,
you don't have to worry about this on a day to day basis.
But
we used to say no, your risk, lower your risk. And that still remains true.
But to be able to lower your risk, governments need to support you in doing so.
Um, but we all have a role to play So if you are of an older age group,
if you have underlying conditions,
consider wearing that mask if you're around other.
I see a lot of people, especially we just come back from some home.
Leave a lot of people wearing masks.
When in airports, these are common sense things.
Use your hand gel that's good for lots of different pathogens that are out there,
and there are many pathogens circulated.
Make sure you're updated on your booster. Know where you can get treatment.
Talk to your medical, UH, care provider.
But governments need to continue to step up and
continue to invest in pandemic preparedness for many pathogens,
but also deal with the current risk of COVID-19.
Robin Miller, the French news agency.
Thank you. Just, uh, just on the vaccines. Have they have the vaccines improved?
Um, over the last couple of years. What? What research has gone to,
uh, to make them more effective than they than they were before. And are they?
Are they any more effective on transmission? Particularly, Thank you.
So there's quite a bit of research that's happening on, um, COVID-19 vaccines.
So we look at vaccine effectiveness and we have a group that, um,
does systematic reviews Looking at vaccine effectiveness.
It's a very complicated space because there are many different vaccines,
many different producers of vaccines.
There are many vaccines that are based on the ancestral strain.
We have vaccines that were based on the B a one B a two B a 45. We have
vines that have been updated now for XBB.
And we have vaccines that are coming online that will have, um uh an adjuvant Uh uh,
a variant, including not adjuvant, A very, um, antigen.
Excuse me based on jan 0.1 sub lineages.
So when we look at this whole space, in fact,
yesterday I asked my team to give me or the broader team to give
me a briefing on where we are with vaccine effectiveness because to be honest,
the number of studies that are ongoing to
look at vaccine effectiveness have decreased over time.
But it is still something that we are constantly looking at
in terms of vaccine performance.
The way that we are trying to improve them are 22 ways to I'll give two examples.
One is to update vaccine composition.
So our technical advisory group for vaccine COVID-19 vaccine composition tag
Kovac meets every six months or so, um,
to look at the performance of the vaccines in
terms of its protection against severe disease and death.
That's the outcome that we are measuring
because that's what they're really intended for.
Um, and we make recommendations based on the circulating strains.
What we know may be coming down the pipeline.
And so as the vaccines are updated, the goal is to have more protection,
more breadth of protection for the people that get those updated vaccines.
Right now, we see X PV vaccines being used in a number of countries,
and we're working with those countries to
get updates on the vaccine effectiveness.
We don't have data yet on
effective
against JN 0.1 circulating sub lineages.
But if you hear anything from me and if the general public
is listening to this vaccination with any of the available safe,
effective approved vaccines will protect against severe disease
and death will increase your will lower your risk
of developing severe disease and death that will also
lower your risk of developing post covid condition.
Um, I would hope to have more investment in vaccines against transmission
um, the vaccines do The current vaccines do have some impact on transmission,
but certainly not enough to be able to stop. Uh, the transmission.
So they do have some effect, but really,
their main goal is to prevent severe disease and death.
Thank you very much. Are there any, uh, any other question? Yes.
You have a follow up, Yuri.
But it's not on
covid.
It's for ta ta.
Can you stay? I don't know. Maybe if you want to say
you want to ask you a question and then we will
wrap up with the WHO.
It's just on the
inox because we all saw the new that maybe
Ah, OK.
But
my
question is
to the committee that the emergency committee that maybe
doctors
can call,
So do you know if it is going to be called? Do you know where
do you know when?
So I can I can tell you what um,
the DG said the other day is that he's
considering calling an emergency committee for the evolving situation of
ox. I mean, certainly we are seeing an expanding outbreak. Um, across the continent
and in particular, the concern is around this clade one, virus that we are seeing,
um, a number of countries not just within DRC.
Um, but a number of countries in the surrounding areas are reporting cases.
Now, this is something that we've expected.
Um and so certainly there's increased awareness.
There's increased surveillance, um, in these countries,
but the reporting of them,
it's difficult for us to understand the epidemiology of what's really unfolding.
Um, whether there is, you know, a substantial rise in cases, um,
or it's just a matter of increased awareness.
Having said that, certainly something is happening here.
what we would like to better understand is
more much more detail on the epidemiology.
and the differences in transmission.
Um, because we are seeing transmission, you know, zoonotic transmission.
We are seeing transmission in sexual networks.
We are seeing transmission between people and families.
Young Children are being affected and clade one and particularly
this clade one B is deadlier than clade two.
Um, having said that, there's so much that can be done right now,
um, whether we have an EC or not,
or whether AAA public health emergency of international concern is declared or not
in terms of the fundamentals of of
public health of epi,
um, surveillance,
stronger surveillance case, finding
strong risk communication,
community engagement about prevention and preventative activities.
Working very closely with our HIV partners,
making sure that people who show up at health care whether
it's a community clinic or anywhere else are receiving the right information
and the targeted use of vaccines.
So there are a lot of vaccine. Well, they are not a lot of vaccines.
There are some vaccines,
um, that are licenced that can be used for
ox. And we're working with Afro.
We're working with affected countries to see how they could be their targeted use
in the at risk groups can be used as part of the response.
The DG. Is considering all of this. Um, as he does regularly, we brief him regularly.
Um, and when he is ready to make a decision,
if he's going to call an emergency committee, I'm sure we will.
We will let you know. Um, ASAP.
Um but the decision, um, will be with him.
Maria, I can't thank you too much for this briefing.
Please come back any time and tare.
The journalists are asking for the notes. If it's
possible,
it's been sent. Fantastic. OK, so I have it in the chat. But
thank you for your rapid response. Thank you very much. Again.
Good luck. In the next month, we will all
follow your advice, I hope,
and let me turn to my right. If
I look at the number of rainy days we've had in Geneva last month,
I can't believe my ears that you are going to tell
us about the extreme eve of the month of July.
But I'm pretty sure you have got good arguments for this Clare.
And you are here with Alvaro
Silva. Who is the
climate expert who is on Zoom. I can see him. Don't know if he can
be,
uh
if we can see, uh, Alvaro,
I can see that he's connected.
Um but maybe I will start with you. Claire.
Yes. Here we go.
So we start with you, Claire, and then we will go to to Alvaro
Silva.
Uh, yes. Good morning, everybody. Summer has finally arrived
in Geneva,
but obviously we should not think that just
because Switzerland or parts of Switzerland were unusually
cool and wet doesn't mean that this is the case for the rest of the world.
So the World Meteorological Organisation
today we will issue a detailed
Web note on
on our website. We've sent it to you now, just a few minutes ago
on the extreme heat
which continued throughout July, we saw a hot June
continued throughout July with
really, really, really devastating impacts on communities on people's health
on ecosystems, also on economies.
So extreme heat really has a domino effect across society.
The world's hottest day on record
on recent record at least was registered. This was the 22nd of July
and all of this is really yet another unwelcome indication,
one of many of the extent that greenhouse gases are in fact changing our climate
to put it in context.
Global average temperatures for the past 13 months now,
so that's June 2023 to June 2024 have set new monthly records.
We're still awaiting the data for the month of July,
which will
confirm whether,
if that extreme exceptional trend is continuing in July
and it
underlines the urgency of the recent call to
action on extreme heat by the UN Secretary General
and if you recall, when he launched this call to action
he said that Earth is becoming hotter
and more dangerous for everyone everywhere.
my colleague Alvare
Silva will give you more details, but just to give you continue with the overview.
So in the past year,
we've seen widespread extended, intense
heat waves just about every single continent of the world.
At least 10 countries in the past year
have recorded daily temperatures of more than 50
°C
more than one location.
So you think about it here today is probably late twenties, so add an extra 20
°C to that, and you can well imagine this is too hot for the body to handle.
Death Valley in California, which is known to be the world's
hottest place. It does hold a long standing record
for being the world's hottest place.
That registered a record average monthly temperature of 42.5
°C, which is 108.5
°F. That is day
and night combined for the entire month.
We at W
we don't measure
monthly temperature records. We rather measure individual daily extremes.
But according to
our special rapporteur on this, who's a gentleman called Randy Servini?
He said that This does seem to be
reliably the new monthly record,
although we will not be conducting a detailed investigation.
And
as
Alvaro
will tell you, even the frozen sheets of Antarctica are really, really,
really feeling the heat.
What can we do about
it?
Adapt, adapt, adapt.
We,
as the World Meteorological Organisation will obviously be following
up on the UN Secretary General's call to action
We Our contribution is in the implementation of better heat health,
early warnings and action plans,
and just to give you an idea from the report was launched by the UN Secretary General.
The global scale up of heat health warning systems for 57 countries alone
has the potential to save an estimated 98,000 lives a year. So you know,
every life lost is one too many.
When you're talking about nearly 100,000 lives that we could save each year, that is
that we really we really could do it really could make a difference.
Climate adaptation alone is not enough. As we keep saying time and time again,
we need to tackle the root cause we need to cut
greenhouse gas emissions and we need to do it now.
So that's from me. I'll pass over to
Alvaro
Silver, who's based in Lisbon. And he's
an expert who advises W
on climate and heat issues. Thank you. Thanks. Alvaro
to you.
Thank you. Claire. Uh, good morning, everyone. Yeah, Uh, so, as you mentioned,
uh, we just, uh, had the warmest day on a recent, uh, history. Uh, that was 22 July
and 23. July was a very, uh, close in terms of, uh, temperature value globally.
Uh, yeah. And the one, reason for this, Uh, of course. Uh, we need to understand.
This is, uh,
the long term warming trend, uh, induced by human activities.
But what another, uh, important, uh,
factor that, uh, led to this peak in global temperature.
War was related with a heat wave that we had in Antarctica.
And, uh, yeah, this, uh, uh, is something that is not very common.
It is the second such heat wave to it the continent in last two years.
And, uh, yeah, it contributed to this, uh, record global temperatures.
Um uh, now and also in early July
2023.
Uh, the reason is, uh, still, uh, under research, but yeah,
it seems to be related with, uh, the daily C IC
extent
that continue, uh, very low. Uh, in june, uh, 2024
in this, uh, area of of the world.
And this follows a record, uh,
lowest extent that we had in Antarctica or in terms of sea ice
in, uh, 2023.
Uh, if I give you a a regional overview of in terms of the heat waves and extreme heat,
uh, worldwide.
And this, uh, is important because,
uh, this period of the year is the warmest season
in most of northern hemisphere countries.
So the when we have a heat wave on top of the warmest season, then the impacts,
uh are, uh, very, uh, severe, like we already noticed in in many countries.
So in Asia, uh, July was the warmest on record in Bahrain, China and Japan,
and the second warmest in India. And I'm not, uh, referring to all the countries.
These are some just some examples.
There were persisting and repeated heat waves in the region, including in Pakistan
and Islamic Republic of Iran, that both suffered repeated, uh uh,
impacts from these he
waves, uh and, um in Iran. The, uh,
the this, uh,
it later
he
was forced to go schools.
Uh, because of of the it This is just an example of the impacts that
the population suffered.
Uh, in Africa. We also saw this
important impacts in terms of human health. And, uh,
and, uh, that's, uh, in Morocco. Uh, there was, uh,
two consecutive heat waves with record temperatures.
The second heat wave from 22 to 25 July was particular intense.
Uh, so this, uh, was, uh, leading to, uh, some, uh, temperature record,
Uh, in in some, uh, weather stations
in Europe. Uh, many areas of the Mediterranean
Mediterranean regions and Balkans were gripped by extensive heatwaves in July
that caused also casualties and impact public health. So, uh,
uh,
we can refer to a rapid attribution
studied by scientists in worldwide retribution that,
uh, connected these heatwaves, uh, to,
uh, human industrial climate change.
So, in fact, the
the extreme heat is, uh, one of, uh,
the phenomenon that we have more confidence attributing to,
uh, human activities and to, uh, release of, uh,
greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
So this was the case again for this specific example, but There are many other
studies that suggest that this, uh, increasing,
uh, intense and frequent heatwaves are, uh, due to, uh, uh
to greenhouse gases.
Concentration in the atmosphere due to human in, uh, activities.
Um, yeah. Uh,
July was also the warmest month in many countries of Europe, in Greece, Hungary,
Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria,
Bulgaria,
Just to mention some of these countries.
And, uh, one thing that is also important to highlight
is that
this is not, uh, a specific, uh
uh, isolated case. Uh, so I can give you an example for Greece
the during the last four years. Uh, the three,
warmest July. Uh uh, war, uh, records.
So this was in the last, uh, eight years.
So, uh, three of the, uh,
four warmest July war record in the last four years in Greece.
Uh, but we can even look at this
Centennial stations.
And this is a programme managed by WMO.
Uh, where we, uh, have, uh, many recognised, uh, long term, uh,
stations with observations, uh, longer than 100 years.
And, uh, for instance, in Spain, the Barcelona's fibre
observatory. Uh
uh, record, uh, a new maximum temperature of 40 degrees
and uh uh, Also in France. Uh, July was not, uh, uh a warm month,
But the end of July, we we saw, uh, an important,
uh, and intense heat wave that also impacts the
athletes and Spectators at the Paris Olympics.
Uh, but it's not only, uh, in Europe and Asia and Africa.
We also see this, uh, extreme heat,
uh, in North America. As Claire mentioned, we had this, uh, uh, record
monthly temperature for, uh, uh, for that valley.
But, uh, what another important thing to highlight is that, uh, the heat,
uh, is becoming more persistent in in many parts of the world.
For instance, in Las Vegas, uh, we, uh,
add a new record of 43 consecutive days with maximum temperatures of, uh, 105
°F. That is, uh, 40.5
°C, uh, Or higher. Uh,
and the previous record, uh, in, uh, in 2017 was 25 a day. So just to
to give you, uh, uh a good idea of, uh, this increasing, um increasing and prolonged,
Uh, it in in parts of of the world, Uh,
in yes, again in the United States of America.
Uh, uh, the impacts on population were very, uh, high
in terms of affected population by heat. So we had
on first of August, Uh, more than 160 million people.
That's about half of the United States population
under heat alerts.
Uh, but
it's not only, uh, in in the northern hemisphere, uh, that we are, uh,
experience this extreme heat, even in South America.
And it's winter time. Uh, in South America,
we have temperatures above, uh, 30 degrees and even
a and even above, uh, 35 degrees
in parts of
Bolivia. Paraguay, Uh, and southern Brazil and Uruguay.
Uh, this is, uh, quite unusual for this time of the year.
Uh, and, uh, normally, uh, were higher than, uh, 10
°C, Uh, in some, uh, in some parts.
Um, yeah. And, uh,
also, this led to some, uh, impacts. Uh, including
including, uh, on, uh,
wildfires. Uh, the Copernicus atmospheric Monitoring service.
Uh, referred that Bolivia and Brazil. Uh, Amazon, Feist and President.
Fire activity.
Uh, so this is just, uh, a glance of what we had, uh, during this, uh, last month
in many parts of the world. Thank you so much.
Thank you. very much. Uh,
Alvaro and I just would like
Claire has mentioned the Secretary General School to action on extreme Heat.
You will remember that this has been released on 25th of July.
We've sent you all the information about this very important document,
and please refer to it and we can send it to you again if needed.
So let me open the floor to questions. Now, if there is any in the room,
I don't see any hand up now,
uh, in the platform
line. Voice of America.
Uh, yes. Hi. I have two questions. One. Do you have a cumulative figure
of how many people have died from, uh,
this extreme heat throughout the world? Or perhaps, uh, regional?
Uh, numbers I, I
it it may be difficult, but anyway, this is my question.
And then, um
Claire, you were very dramatic when you said what needs to be done is to adapt, adapt,
adapt.
Could you be specific about your suggestions? How do people adapt to this?
Uh, I don't know how many can afford air conditioning,
So
thank you.
Which is one of the things that in the report of the
Secretary General is specifically mentioned as a concrete things not to do.
And he gives the amount of energy
and the savings in pollution that could be done
if we were just slowing a little bit the cooling
worldwide. So exactly the things that doesn't need to be done for adaptation.
I don't know if who wants to start.
Maybe
I can. I can. I can
start on the final question
adaptation. We can do a lot through heat health Early warnings
In places such as India and
Pakistan, where you used to get very,
very high mortality figures due to due to heat waves, India, in particular
cities in India have now introduced quite strong heat health
action plans. What does it mean in practise?
It means you can change the working hours of the day.
This is something the International Labour Organisation has picked up on.
It's quite difficult people in informal settlements to protect them,
but really staying trying to
protect yourself yourselves in the hottest days in the hottest hours of
the day in
developed countries,
we have more tools at our
tower disposal.
One of them is and I think the Swiss are doing it right now,
making swimming pools free of charge to the less well off to elderly
opening libraries. For longer shopping centres which have air conditioning.
Air conditioning does have quite a heavy carbon footprint.
So certainly, as the UN secretary general said, it's not,
it's not. It's not necessarily the solution. I see lots of
posts on social media, and I know it sounds corny, but plant a tree.
We have what we call the urban heat island effect, which means that
temperatures in heavily built up concrete areas where you've got lots of roads.
You've got lots of lots of buildings, not much Green cover
temperatures there are markedly higher than in greener areas.
So just to give a practical example, if you have a street
is lined by trees and a street
has no trees, the temperatures on the
street with no trees will be
will be will be higher.
But as I said, it's really we as W,
it's all about early warnings and informing people
to act on those warnings and to
take early action
in terms of the statistics.
It's
Alvaro might be able to say more, but it's very, very
difficult at the time to get
accurate statistics, and
extreme heat
is one of the big
under reported
causes of death from weather, climate and water extremes. We're pretty good at
measuring mortality figures from tropical cyclones, from floods from rain,
less good at doing it from extreme heat
because quite often it's a compound
factor. It does target people who've got
underlying health issues, respiratory problems
and quite often,
as we
either countries don't have the reporting mechanisms or quite often.
And we saw this case in Europe a couple of years ago that
initial estimates were dramatically
increased
about a year later
when
they
when they did a more thorough
assessment. So that's quite a long
answer to your question.
The short answer is no,
we don't know at this stage some of the heat related deaths are due to
also due to drowning. People
will jump into water
and get into difficulties.
And so quite often, for instance, in the UK,
you get heat related deaths due to drowning.
Anyway, over to Alvera.
Yeah, Thank you for the question. Thank you, Claire.
You you provided already a very, uh, comprehensive uh, overview.
I just li like to to add that Yeah, it's true that for, uh,
regarding the second question, it's very difficult to or, I would say,
near impossible to have,
uh, a real time, uh, estimation on that's related to heat.
So the impacts of heat waves are not always immediately visible, so it takes time to,
uh,
to have the estimates of the excess mortality. That's the way it is.
Uh, these deaths are calculated, so it's not,
uh, re
There are, uh, reported deaths.
But sometimes we need to to to many times we need to to look
at the mortality curves and estimate the
excess deaths compared to the normal period.
That's the
the way it is done, uh, to estimate this additional debts, uh, related to it.
Uh, yeah. And it's very true that in some regions, this, uh, is also under reported.
So the the actual figures, uh, on, um, uh, mortality of, uh,
related to it extremes,
Uh, are, uh, um likely much higher than, uh,
we have,
uh, in some, uh, disaster database.
Uh, that that's why it's not, uh, not possible to have this in near real time
and sometimes even the the the year after the studies are still, uh, being, uh,
conducted to, uh, have, uh, uh, more robust assessment on the estimated deaths.
Yeah, and on terms of
of the adaptation to heat, I would just like to to compliment.
That's something that we we realised, uh, on the European state of climate report.
This is specifically for Europe, but perhaps can be,
uh, also, uh, the same in other regions is that
people are aware, uh, of the of the heat waves.
So we had a very, uh, good progress in terms of early warnings,
uh, to eat, so we can anticipate, uh,
the occurrence of heatwaves 12 weeks in advance.
But then, uh, people, uh,
sometimes are not aware of the risk that it poses to their health.
And this is something that, uh, there are still some work to to be done.
And, uh, so that people realise that it is a silent killer.
And, uh, it's not, uh, sometimes a visible, uh,
danger. Then people needs to, uh, to have more.
Uh uh uh, to to have more are to be more aware of this of this risk.
So it's also
important to highlight the the, uh, the role of the individual actions.
Uh, of course, on top of other actions. Uh
uh, at urban planning, land management and all the rest that needs to be, uh,
continued and accelerated
because the the extreme heat impacts are also accelerating. Thank you.
And maybe Lisa, just of course I can't speak exactly for
But when
the secretary general
released the call to action on Extreme Heat
also issued a press release where
they were saying that,
uh,
the climate crisis is driving temperatures up
to unbearable levels all over the world,
leading to heat related deaths.
And they were given the figure of heat stress
as the leading cause of weather related deaths.
Estimates show that approximately 489,000 heat related
deaths occurred every year between 2020 19.
Not very recent data,
but it gives, I think, a good approximation of the
huge
effect of this of this heat related illnesses
and the Secretary General
to action really concentrated on the positive and very concrete
measures that could be implemented to care for the vulnerable, protect workers,
boost resilience using data and science,
and limit the global average temperature increase to 1.5 degrees.
So I think there is a lot there to give you information.
As I said, the data may not be that recent, but it gives you a very good
idea of the
phenomenon.
Any other question
on this important subject? I don't see any, so thank you very much, Claire.
Thank you,
Alvaro.
And thank you for participating from Lisbon.
I will go now to our last guest of the day, Paula Fitzgerald. Paula is the
head of country cluster delegation for Ethiopia and Djibouti.
She is connecting from Addis Ababa.
But I understand from my colleagues that there are a few issues with the connection.
So I hope we will be able to see and hear Paula.
Good morning.
Oh, that's perfect. Thank you very much for being there. Uh,
Paula,
you have an update for our journalist on
the landscapes in In sorry landslides in Ethiopia.
Please
open the floor and we will open the floor to questions afterwards.
Thank you very much. Good morning.
Uh so 30 pregnant and lactating women died in the landslides
in Ethiopia at the end of last month 30 That is
I start with that fact because numbers hide individuals,
their lives and their stories,
but of at least 243 people who we know died
30 were expecting or recently delivered.
So there is something major we know about their stories, their lives
and their lives that were wiped away in moments.
If it's for those left behind the thousands of people that the IFRC,
the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
has launched the appeal, I'm here to talk about this morning.
But first, the background
on the 21st and 22nd of July, heavy rains triggered
a series of devastating landslides in Ethiopia's remote Goa
zone in the south.
The first was bad enough,
but it was the second and the third landslides that caused the most damage.
That meant rescuers themselves got caught in the successive waves.
So far, 243 bodies have been recovered.
Ethiopia is no stranger to landslides, but that
number makes this the deadliest landslide event
in Ethiopia's known history.
The aftermath of this disaster has been devastating.
Over 15.5 1000 people in the path of the landslides need to be relocated urgently.
So far, some 3600 people have moved to safer areas
and there's plans to move another 2900 very shortly.
The Ethiopian Red Cross Society, or the ER CS,
along with the IFRC, sent an assessment team to go
far last week.
They found a community completely overwhelmed by grief.
Families have been torn apart,
Children have lost parents and parents have lost Children.
The region continues to S, uh, face severe weather with ongoing heavy rains,
increasing the risk of further landslides.
And there's reports coming out that there's been
another event in another area of southern Ethiopia
just in the last, uh, overnight.
So we're trying to find out more information about that.
The rugged terrain
and
uh makes a rescue and recovery operations difficult.
There's also the risk of diseases spreading.
The southern regions of Ethiopia have already seen
almost 300,000 malaria cases since the start of 2024
and more than 300 measles cases.
Dire conditions in the landslide areas make acceleration of those numbers likely.
But despite these challenges,
local branches of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society have mobilised quickly,
providing essential support and working with authorities to maximise
our rescue and recovery and support efforts.
The needs are immense.
Vulnerable groups such as Children, pregnant and lactating mothers,
the elderly people with disabilities and students
who've lost their families urgently need support.
The ER CS has been providing food, non-food items and essential household goods,
but no more
but more help is needed.
That's why on August the second,
the IMRC and ER CS launched an emergency appeal for 6 million Swiss francs.
This funding is crucial to support immediate life saving assistance
and early recovery activities for 25.5 1000 of
the most vulnerable people affected by the landslides.
Along with the winds, storms and floods that are underway this season,
our focus areas include emergency shelter, water and sanitation,
psychological support and basic household items.
Our response isn't just about immediate relief. We're committed to a long term
approach, integrating emergency shelter with long term housing solutions
and focusing on health and well-being, livelihood recovery and cash assistance.
Continuing to build on ER CS S disaster risk reduction capacity
will be integral to this response as its branches extend its community outreach in
this vital and life saving sector,
especially in high risk disaster prone localities.
This comprehensive multisectoral approach
will help communities rebuild and recover beyond the emergency phase.
The situation in southern Ethiopia
is dire,
and the need for international support is urgent.
I'm really hoping by being here today, you can help highlight what's happened
and what's needed.
Thank you. And I'm happy to respond to questions.
Thank you very much. Paula and I look at the journalists here in the room.
Don't see hands up
or on the platform.
Liza. Liza.
Sly
Voice of America. Liza, you have the floor?
Yeah. Thank you.
Uh, Ms Fitzgerald, would you please first send us your notes, but like, right away,
not at the end of the day.
Otherwise, seriously, I won't be able to do a report on this, OK,
thank you.
Uh, as to my questions, you may have already mentioned it,
but it may have gone by how many people actually are affected by this landslide.
And are you able to reach all of the, uh, the survivors and
the victims of this
disaster? And
is is this, uh, a
fairly usual phenomenon that is having,
uh, having landslides in Ethiopia? Or is this a particularly,
perhaps not a one off, but a particularly serious disaster which has occurred.
Thank you.
Thank you. Uh, yes, 15,000 Fif. Uh, 500 people have been, uh, affected.
One of the, um,
uh, needs is because the area is unstable. Now.
They need, uh that population needs to be moved urgently away.
Hence the need for emergency and longer term, uh, shelter solutions.
Uh, so, yes, landslides happen every year in, um, Ethiopia,
but this is exceptional. Uh, this was a particularly tragic, um, incident,
Uh, because they were successive landslides.
So the people who had gone to help dig the, um,
the neighbours out of the first landslide were inundated by the 2nd and 3rd,
so it's a particularly tragic, um, incident, but, uh,
landslides do occur routinely in the country.
and so disaster risk reduction and risk and management is, um, key to ER CS S.
Um, work, uh,
to help, uh, mitigate the impact.
Thank you very much. And I see Marna
line has already answered to you Lisa saying that they will send the the notes.
Any other question?
Do IFC.
I don't see any, so thank you very much, Paula.
Good luck with your important work in this
quite catastrophic situation.
Um, I just have a couple of
Oh, no. Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.
I said it was the last one,
but Zain is waiting for giving us a few information about the press conference.
And Sorry, Zina.
I thought you were in the room, but I think you are on Zoom.
So I will ask my colleague to
give you the floor.
Let me see if Zen is connected.
Yes. There you go.
Good morning and sorry for this.
No worries. Thank you very much. Alexandra. Good morning. Uh, colleagues?
Yes, uh, before, uh, moving forward with, uh the,
uh the information that I like to share with you.
I just wanted to,
uh, chime in on the very important issue of the impact of excessive heat.
Um, on, uh, on populations in the world, as my colleague Claire mentioned,
Uh, the IO has also done extensive work on the impact of extreme heat on, uh, workers.
And we've also,
uh, tallied, uh, the,
uh What we estimate to be the financial cost in terms of lost revenue.
Um, and, uh, medical bills, Um, as a result of, uh, of illnesses and in some cases,
death.
Uh um for for workers.
Um, as Alexandra mentioned, uh, we have an upcoming embargoed, uh,
press conference, uh, that we will be holding on on, uh, Thursday
the eighth of August. Uh, it's going to be online.
And, uh, this, uh, during this press conference,
we will be unveiling the findings of our
international of our global employment trend, uh, for youth, uh, report.
And now, uh, the content of the press conference as well as the, uh, uh,
report itself.
And, uh,
the news offer that we we are putting together
will be under embargo until International Youth Day,
which happens to be Monday, the 12th of, uh of August.
And we, of course, will be sharing all of that with you,
Um, ahead of time. Thank you. For those who've already emailed to request that,
uh
um, the, uh the findings of the report will be, um, uh,
presented by our director General, Doctor HBO,
as well as our assistant Director General Mia
Seppo,
uh, for employment.
And we will also have a technical colleague, uh,
available to answer any sort of technically, um,
or complicated questions that may come up.
Uh, we will be, uh, sharing, um, employment trends and numbers by region uh,
looking at Africa, Arab States, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Americas
as well as by gender.
And there will be some market, uh, differences between young men and young women.
Uh, we're also going to be looking at the neat, uh, rate, which is, uh,
young people who are not in employment, Not in education, Not in training and EET,
Uh, also, uh uh, regionally. And, um, and by, uh, by gender,
Um, this, of course.
Uh, this report comes at a time when there's growing uncertainty and instability,
uh, around the world that is affecting the youth.
And,
um and the report will also be therefore looking at the impact that all of this
is happening on the the impact that all of this is having on on young people,
uh, around the world.
It's also the 20th anniversary of the report this year.
So in addition to the numbers, uh, that I've mentioned,
we're also going to be looking
at trends that we've identified over the last two decades or or 20 years.
And also, we will include, uh, recommendations on how to deal with some of the, uh,
stubborn or vexing or or structural issues that we, um identify.
Um, so we look forward to seeing you, uh, online on, uh, on Thursday, uh,
in the morning.
And, uh, please do reach out.
Um, if you would like, if you've got any questions or would like to set up a, um,
an interview ahead of the 12th, uh, which is when the, uh, embargo is lifted.
Thank you very much. And then back to Alessandra.
Thank you very much.
And thanks for your patience.
I
see
he has a question for you.
We
offer
and yes,
same the same. Ok,
so there are several requests for this.
I don't see other questions. So, Zain, thank you very much.
I'm just left with a couple of announcements for you.
Yesterday, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opened its,
uh,
113th session.
And this afternoon they will
They will start a review of the report of Venezuela. Other countries which will be
looked at during this session
are Iran, Pakistan, Bosnia Herzegovina,
and United Kingdom, Iraq and Belarus.
We don't have yet a date for the next
plenary meeting of the conference on this amendment,
which has entered the last week in its third and last part of its 2024 session,
which will last until 13
September.
This morning, the conference is having a meeting of its subsidiary body too.
The one on the prevention of nuclear war.
As you know, under the presidency of Ireland,
Um, this is what I had for you. If there are no further questions
and I don't see any, thank you very much to you all. And I'll see you on Friday.
Thank you.