Welcome to the press briefing of the UN in Geneva.
Today is Tuesday, 1st of April, and unfortunately it's no April Fool that we have to deal with a terrible situation in Myanmar following the earthquake that shocked the region last week.
We have several colleagues online for this briefing from Orcha, WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR and who's here and IFRC.
So we'll listen from all of them and then we'll we'll go to questions.
Before I start, I would just like to remind you that yesterday we have distributed to you a note to correspondence by the UN Special Envoy on Myanmar, Julie Bishop, which of course, express the solidarity with the people of Myanmar from the United Nations.
So I'll now start immediately by giving the floor to Marco Luigi Korsi, who is the Myanmar Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, who's calling in from Yangun.
Marco Luigi, thank you very much.
And as Humanitarian Coordinator, you're also speaking on behalf of our colleagues who are helping with the humanitarian support to the people of Myanmar.
Well, thank you, thank you to you for for giving me the opportunity to brief you today on the situation in Myanmar.
The scale and scope of impact, I think I'm sure that you all have seen of the earthquake is vast and spanning multiple States and region, particularly the, the central part of the, the, the country, which is also called the dry zone.
And we are still gathering information on the full extent of the impact.
But the initial reports indicate a huge number of people affected and significant structural, structural damage.
I was indeed, we came back just last night and I know I can tell you that you know, the structural damage is quite significant on the roads breach hospitals, schools and of course buildings where civilians are living.
The human tool is devastating and continue to increase.
You have million peoples live in the areas affected by the earthquake and the **** number of casualties and they've been widely reported and there is an upward trends up to more than 1600 people have died so far and over 3 point 3400 people have been injured and more 200 people remaining missing.
But then search and rescue is continuing and this now just now we are at 22 hours from from the earthquake.
So and this means that say you know the numbers of people casualties etcetera are expected to rise.
The immediate needs over the affected communities as in any I would say earthquake have become increasingly urgent.
You have sheltered foods, the clean water essential household islands are are only in a short supply.
Some people in the affected areas spent the night in the open and some of us as well, together with a humanitarian factors, because you know, you have no electricity, you have no running border.
It's this is a summertime, it's very hot and homes have been dramatic, damaged or destroyed.
And because of course there are often aftershock and that people are being indeed scared to go inside their homes.
Humanitarian organisations, the UN agencies, partners, many of whom were in Myanmar already present in the area and are actively delivering supplies as we speak while conducting a response, an assessment, rapid response assessment.
To their mind, the full scale of the needs.
Some of the supplies includes food, drinking water.
There is a huge means of drinking water shelter and for, for, for temporary shelter for to accommodate the people, but also to say that the medicines are very, very important.
Those areas where areas and that colleague show we speak about where there was there was acute to water in diarrhoea and we need to also to think about that you know the influence season are coming.
So we remain deeply committed to reaching people in Myanmar who needs AIDS.
Humanitarian workers are mobilising alongside local frontline respondents.
The localization is really the way to go, coordinating efforts to deliver immediate life saving assistance.
Teams of search and rescue experts are working to find people trapped in the rubble.
And the, the critical window for search, as I said, is really narrow now because we are now 72 hours after the, the earthquake.
Myanmar, I should also say that was already facing an alarming humanitarian crisis.
You know, since I've been here, apart from the ongoing conflicts, there's been a cyclone, very powerful cyclone, which hits mostly the part of north, north, north, northwest of the, of the country.
But last year there was a just a few months ago actually there was a massive flooding.
Now we have, you know, the earthquake, but then the cholera also as well.
So and according to the HNRP, we have a 19.9 million people in needs of humanitarian assistance.
And this is what just before the earthquake.
So the compounding impact of the earthquake puts more and more lives at risk as the resilience of the people each time that there is a shock goes down and there is always limited, you know, likelihood of the resilience to come up again.
So millions of people have been forced to flee their homes, over 15 millionaire facing hunger and civilian space increasing protection concern.
There is this is time to be honest for the world to step up and support the people in Myanmar.
We keep saying that, you know, Myanmar doesn't rank very **** among the different emergencies and we are not saying that we are competing in another emergency, but it's really a matter of putting the people in Myanmar in **** in the attention of, of, of, of everybody because they deserve the attention of, of the world.
So the humanitarian response in Myanmar has been chronically underfunded for years.
Four months into the year right now, less than 5% of the of the required 1.1 billion of humanitarian response plan has been has been has been received.
So with the earthquake now it's just a bidding needs a huge funding is a crucial to indeed save life.
So the UN, I must say Central Emergency Response Fund have been quickly responding to the needs allocated immediately 5 million towards the headway, which would be mostly used for shelter protection, water and sanitation and multiple for cash.
So thank you indeed for the for your attention opportunity and we'll be happy to take any question during the Q&A.
Thank you so very much, Marco Luigi.
We will now go to sorry, Fernando Tushara.
Dr Fernando Tushara was The Who representative in Myanmar, also from Myanmar.
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
Sunday, I was in Lipitor, permission to see our team there as well as to visit certain health facilities.
It's a illustration about this infrastructure damage.
Marco was talking about that the 300 kilometre route, which normally takes about 4 1/2 hours, that day took me about close to 8 hours.
I saw the influx of patients to the hospitals in Nipita.
Hospitals were overwhelmed with patients.
The medical supplies were running dry.
There were electricity disruptions in some hospitals.
The generators even were not working and shortages of running water and they were low on fuel.
And some of the people whom I met and saw they had cut injuries, incision and wounds recall some had deep bruises and some had burn injuries.
And I met a woman who said that she had a head injury and she's she was having bleeding from her nose.
But her biggest concern was how to look who will look after her small baby as she's she's ill.
I met a man who was in shock as he as his colleague has died almost in front of him when their office collapsed and he was devastated.
This shows the level of psychosocial health needs that we could see in the in Napito.
The hardships that some of them are facing today in terms of water, sanitation, etcetera will run into outbreaks of infectious diseases in the future unless we control them very quickly.
We must not forget that few months back, like Marco said, there were several townships in Mandalay which were affected by cholera and in the country there were nine States and regions which reported cholera.
About 800 cases were reported until February.
And not only cholera, there are other infectious diseases like dengue, hepatitis, malaria which can further spread.
And because of the situation and I saw that all available resources in health centres that they are being converged around managing the earthquake victims.
But if this situation continues for several more days, I'm very concerned about those patients who require their normal essential health services.
What about the pregnant mothers who need care?
What about the sick children, patients with life threatening such as the injuries, sorry, diseases such as diabetes and heart conditions, etcetera.
And we also can't forget about those people who need continuous treatment like HIV patients, TB patients, etcetera.
I'm very concerned about that.
WHO is in the process of taking a stock of destroyed and damaged health infrastructure.
Three hospitals in have been totally destroyed and there were 22 hospitals that damaged.
But what I saw was that even those partially damaged hospitals that they were still functioning as they wanted to continue to provide services to the patients.
And WHO already has delivered 3 tonnes of medical supplies, surgical supplies to the hospitals in Mandalay and Nepitor.
And another load is to come in two more days.
And there were about 9:00 to 5:00 emergency kits, which have been delivered immediately.
They were delivered dispatched within 24 hours from our stockpiles.
Each kit can provide services to 10,000 people for three months now among.
But there's something striking.
Among the people whom I met, I witnessed that some of them were determined that they should get back to their normalcy.
The level of resilience was very striking.
Now, almost every person in Nepitor is affected in Subway, either they are directly affected or their families, loved ones are affected, or their house has collapsed or partially destroyed.
And I believe that healthcare workers are no exception.
Healthcare workers also, I'm sure, are equally affected.
But however, amidst all these problems, these healthcare workers were in the forefront to serve those people who were less fortunate.
The level of motivation, dedication and determination was amazing and admirable, and we salute them.
Thank you very much, Doctor.
I'd like to go now to Julia Rees, who is the UNICEF Deputy Representative in Myanmar and also calling in from Yemgun.
Julia, thank you and thank you for the opportunity of this briefing.
The deadliest earthquake in Myanmar in many decades has hit children the hardest.
I also have just returned from some of the worst affected locations where I was part of the team that was delivering assistance on the ground and assessing the situation.
And what I saw was devastating.
Entire communities have been flattened, children and families are sleeping out in the open with no homes to return to.
I met children who were in shock after witnessing their homes collapse or the death of a family member, and some have been separated from their parents and others are unaccounted for.
The distraction, I think, as Michael, Luigi and Dr Tusara has mentioned, is immense.
Homes, schools, hospitals, and critical infrastructure such as bridges and power lines have been damaged or destroyed, leaving the population without electricity and telecommunications.
And there are entire communities that were about water, food, shelter, medicines and money.
And yet the crisis is still unfolding.
While we were there, there were multiple tremors that were continuing and the search and rescue operations were ongoing.
Bodies were being pulled from the rubble.
And yesterday I was at a hospital where a search and rescue team pulled 20 bodies out over the last two days.
And during the morning I was there, they pulled out a further three bodies and they found one person alive.
Children are anxiously waiting to be reunited with their missing family members and parents are desperately searching for their their children.
The psychological trauma of this is obviously immense for children who are already living through conflict and displacement.
This disaster has added yet another layer of fear and loss.
And from our pre positioned stocks, UNICEF and partners has begun delivering emergency water, sanitation and hygiene kits, medical kits and nutrition supplies.
Was part of the team yesterday handing out buckets and supporting the distribution of water to a community that had received nothing since Friday and making sure that they were safe drinking water through the distribution of water purification tablets.
Many of these families are living out in the open and the conditions are incredibly challenging.
The my colleagues that we were all sort of without electricity or running water with no sanitation and sleeping out like the communities that we serve.
We're mobilising in UNICEF a further 80 metric tonnes of critical supplies from our global hubs.
It's not enough for the scale of the disasters that we are facing.
And let me be clear, the the needs are massive and they're rising by the hour.
The window for life saving response is closing and across the affected areas, families are facing acute shortages of clean water, food and medical supplies.
And even before this earthquake, over 6.5 million children in Myanmar were in need of humanitarian assistance.
One in three displaced people in the country is a child.
And now the earthquake has added another layer of crisis, pushing already vulnerable families past the brink.
We are really calling on the international community to respond with urgency.
We desperately need funds to scale up our response.
So far, less than 10% of UNICEF's 2005 Humanitarian Action for Children Appeal has been received and without additional resources, we cannot reach every child in need.
Children with serious injuries need urgent care.
Many are deeply traumatised, they've lost their loved ones or they've been pulled from the rubble themselves.
The longer we wait, the deeper the impact on children's lives and on their futures.
Thank you, Julia, Thank you very much for for this briefing on the focusing on children.
I give the floor now to Babar Baloch for the action of UNHCR.
Thank you, dear Alexandra.
A huge thanks to our humanitarian colleagues on the ground delivering as we see the situation unfold.
Unit CR is also part of the humanitarian relief efforts and we are rushing supplies to quick hit central Myanmar.
As aftershocks continue to pound central Myanmar following the earthquake on 28th of March Units here, the UN Refugee Agency has rushed emergency supplies from Young Goon to some 25,000 earthquake survivors in the Mandalay and Nipitao areas.
As part of the humanitarian efforts in Myanmar, we are mobilising more relief items from our existing stocks in Myanmar and hope these plastic sheets, sleeping mats, blankets, kitchen sets and mosquito Nets can provide some relief in these turbulent times.
UNICR has declared the situation as a top level humanitarian crisis as we have not seen a tragedy and devastation like this in Myanmar in the recent years.
Our team is currently identifying critical needs in the worst affected areas of Mandalay, Magway and Sagang regions as part of an interagency Rapid Needs Assessment.
A team that we sent on Sunday from Yonggun, it took them 13 hours to reach Mandalay and our field office in Mandalay has conducted site visits to several affected areas, including Tycoon, where a fire had destroyed multiple homes in the aftermath of the earthquake.
The most urgent requirements is to deploy shelter and relief items to the affected areas.
It is also essential to monitor risks around explosive ordinance.
Remember, there has been an active conflict going on in Myanmar since the last four years.
Family separation, child protection and gender based monitoring is also required.
Unit CR is also communicating with affected communities on safety issues and the provision of emergency aid.
The earthquake and its aftershocks compound and already desperate situation in the country reeling from four years of conflict.
The quake earthquake hit areas are home to some 45% of the 3.5 million internally displaced people across Myanmar.
Unit CR continues to advocate for unimpeded humanitarian access with our partners to help these communities who need urgent assistance as all, as all of us, as humanitarians mobilise aid and staff.
Units here along with our partners are asking for support from governments, institutions and individuals.
This is not this is this is a time to stand in solidarity with the people of Myanmar.
Thank you very much, Babar.
And last but definitely not least, we have the pleasure to host the representative of IFRC in Myanmar, Mrs Nadia Khouri.
I'd like to give her the floor.
Good morning from Yangon and thank you for having me.
As you know, the Red Cross tend to be the first local based responders, and this was no different.
So when the earthquake struck on Friday, the Myanmar Red Cross volunteers responded immediately because they were part of those communities that were directly affected.
As our colleagues have already outlined, the humanitarian needs on the ground are absolutely immense and devastating.
Despite the damage to their homes and to their facilities, the Myanmar Red Cross volunteers and their staff responded immediately, supporting search and rescue teams, providing emergency first aid, dispatching the injured to hospitals and providing ambulance services, as well as distributing essential relief items.
The Myanmar Red Cross has also deployed now several teams globally.
Leveraging their national volunteer network of expertly trained volunteers and staff, they have dispatched teams with mobile clinics with water treatment plants, ambulances, trauma kits and of course, essential relief items.
To date, relief items that can reach 15,000 people and several thousands more are on the way, including tarpaulins, hygiene items, mats, mosquito Nets and essential drinking water and food.
The Myanmar Red Cross is also providing pre hospital care to injured individuals and and families in the most affected communities.
At the moment, teams are carrying out damage assessments and data collection in coordination with several of the agencies that have already spoken, and we are looking to get a better idea of the needs.
But it will be no surprise to know that all the communities affected will have real basic needs in terms of water, shelter, access to healthcare and protection.
The IFRC, in order to work with the Myanmar Red Cross and our our country, our global network of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, has released emergency funding of 2 million Swiss francs from our Disaster Response Emergency Fund, and we have also issued an emergency appeal for 100 million Swiss francs.
With this appeal, we hope to support 1100 thousand people for about 20,000 families across the affected areas of Bogo, Sauna, Shan, Mandalay, Nepidor and Sagain.
And in this way, we hope to leverage the global expertise of our Red Cross and Red Crescent network and also work very closely with our colleagues from the ICLC.
Less than three weeks ago, I was privileged to travel to several of those areas that were affected most recently by the earthquake.
I was in several areas of Nepidor and Mandalay that only months ago had been devastated by unprecedented flooding.
I had also travelled to Saguine Township where we met with Red Cross volunteers and with communities that had been displaced due to conflict and were sheltering in monasteries with immense needs.
And now those same communities have been hit by yet another disaster, creating even more multi layered need for them.
So as colleagues have said, we are now approaching the dry season.
It gets extremely hot in those areas and we're looking at temperatures of over 40°.
We know that the road to recovery will be very long.
And for now, our priority is reaching people with emergency life saving assistance for the initial few weeks.
And then we know that we will want to quickly turn to recovery for those individuals in order to provide them with shelter and with with access to livelihoods as much as possible so that they can recover from the trauma that they have experienced.
Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you very much, Nadia, for this briefing.
I'll open now the floor to questions from the room, first Christian Erich, German news agency.
Christian, maybe just before we start, I see already in the chat all the colleagues here in Geneva, if possible to send out the notes of your colleague and yourself.
Christian, thank you very much.
We've heard many figures now 100,000 reached 15,000, supplies for 15,000.
Does anyone of you have an estimation of how many people actually need help in that area to get an idea about the size of the of the disaster?
And can you tell us a bit more about your cooperation with the military government?
Do they support your efforts?
Do they hinder UN agencies?
Is it difficult to bring supplies in?
Are they trying to to take over the distribution as happened in previous disasters in Myanmar?
Thank you, thank you, Christian.
Maybe this is I'll, I'll give the floor to Marco Luigi for this.
Obviously a few other colleagues want to intervene, but Marco Luigi, maybe you can take this one.
I think in terms of, in terms of numbers and figures.
So the, the, the rapid assessment is still ongoing.
Of course, as I mentioned, you know, the, the earthquake affected a large part of, of Myanmar from Mandalay.
So I think in terms of the numbers of people who can be potentially affected is quite large.
But before coming up with any, any, any specific data, we need to wait for the assessment to come by.
And then as we speak, the teams are actually moving ahead by sector with the rapid assessment to define the needs and the the all the people and then the people affected.
When it comes to the second question, look, I mean, we follow the international humanitarian principle so that, you know, the on partiality notifanity, we engage with all channels which give us the opportunity to reach the people where they are, wherever they are, regardless of who controls what's.
As long as you know, we are able to, to, to, to assist and alleviate the suffering.
And following our humanitarian imperative in terms of, in terms so far, we have been able to, to, to provide assistance to the people.
Again, as a colleague, the same already, you know, the, the, the distribution of different items is ongoing and we haven't experienced so far any, any, any, any blockage.
But as I said, we, we, we work through all channels with giving us the opportunity to reach the people.
Pedrero, AFP yes, thank you.
A quick follow up and then a separate question.
So you, you say you haven't noticed any blockage.
So you, you would say that the, the, the army is really collaborating with you.
And how is this collaboration taking place?
Do you have meetings with them?
If you could give us some details about that.
Another separate question to, I think it's still to to OCHA, but more globally on the US aid cuts linked to the Myanmar emergency response.
I wanted to know if if the those cuts are affecting the emergency response and then either OCHA or any other agency.
Have you seen signs of the US disaster relief team on the ground who was apparently on its way?
So I'll start with Marco Luigi, but please, colleagues, just raise your hand.
And I see that Nadia has already.
So I'll start with Luigi.
Well, in terms of we are coordinating, I mean, I think the coordination is across the actors.
They are providing a system because we want to make sure that, you know, there is no obligation or efforts and we complement whoever, that's what.
So I think the coordination is such it's needed not just with the military authorities, with the regional authorities, but also with the other actors.
I just wanted to speak to the point about the figures.
So if you'll allow me to clarify, at least in the case of the IFRC, we've launched an appeal to reach 100,000 people.
We have not reached them yet, but that is our objective over 2 years.
It's not enough to reach a family just once with water or reaching them just once with with first aid or just two or three times with deliveries of food.
A lot of these communities will require constant support over a number of days or weeks.
Those who have completely lost their houses, people who have lost their loved ones, they might have lost all access to income, they will need assistance over a long time.
And so it's not so straightforward to count the number of people reached because at the moment the nature of the response is that, however however much need there is, assistance will be distributed to them and it's quite difficult to track the number of people reaching each receiving each individual service.
Also, the connection is quite challenging.
Part of the reason why we've sent additional teams from Yangon and dispatched to all of the different affected areas is also because the teams on the ground, the local teams on the ground are absolutely exhausted.
And we wanted to highlight again the importance of keeping safe the first line responders, many of whom are experiencing themselves trauma and shock, and yet many of whom are dedicating their time to try and rescue and support their fellow neighbours.
And part of the partly that's why it's challenging for them to report promptly because they're already so overloaded.
And we know that the additional teams being sent to the ground will be able to help to give a better image of the ongoing aid efforts over.
Thank you very much, Nadia.
Just to put things also in perspective and compliment my colleagues on the ground.
It is in fact a double tragedy for the people of Myanmar.
We keep repeating that even before this devastating earthquake that hit, all the affected areas were hosting 1.6 million people that were displaced and, and, and this is the 45% number we put in there.
This is 45% of the 3.5 million people that were uprooted and displaced by the conflict.
And many of them have been affected multiple times.
If you look at the map of Myanmar, it's a full picture of displacement all around which before the earthquake hit.
And yes, I think you have a follow up.
I was just hoping to have some answer to my second questions on the USA colleague on the in the field would like to take this maybe Marco, Luigi or other colleagues or on the podium.
Well, we don't have any information about.
I mean, we knew that the US together with other other countries that they were lining up in terms of in terms of sending search and rescue teams.
As far as I know and based on my conversation with the regime authorities in a video, they have enough team in terms of search and rescue.
So they they they foresee that that's there is no further need.
We've heard from some of you that you're sending aid to Mandalay and Ipador is any international aid reaching Sagang?
There have been reports of obstruction by the military of of humanitarian aid work there.
Is that an issue in getting international aid to Sagang?
And there are also reports of continuing air strikes in the region of Sagang.
So again, is that inhibiting the distribution of of international aid?
I was kind of astonished to hear that NIPED or thinks there are enough search and rescue teams.
I wondered if you'd have more international search and rescue teams coming.
And I mean, we've had a lot of reports about shortages of, of equipment from moving debris to find and rescue people trapped.
So could you just address how, how can it be possible that they've got enough search and rescue teams and what further assistance is needed from the international community in that department?
Luigi, sorry to come back to you, but I think this is more your thank you, thank you for the question.
So indeed this and colleagues from the the agencies, funds and programmes, they can also complement indeed this again we have been reaching communities again with the with the with the preliminary support.
So distribution is a, is a is actually ongoing again at the moment, you know, we are expanding the capacity across the different areas to, to reach as much as possible communities and people in needs wherever they are in terms of in terms of the, the search and rescue.
Yeah, I think I've been advocating for additional, additional, additional teams at the moment.
Again, there are particularly from, from the neighbouring countries, from the Asia and then from Middle East.
There are, there are they have deployed the teams whether it is enough or not.
That's indeed it's, it's a, it's a, it's a question that we have been trying to to, to raise with the with the regime authorities.
I think that those the two questions were not mistaken.
Well, could you just give us some details about the international search and rescue teams that have arrived and who is coordinating their deployment?
And secondly, could you address the issue of air strikes and the extent to which those are affecting distributions of aid in the Sagang region?
So, yeah, in terms of a coordination, we have the deployment of we have 666 people were have been deployed here, here in in Yangon.
But then the overall coordination is, is a, is a, is a is within a Navy door.
They established the what they call it the disaster management centre for a, for a coordination of of of the teams to be deployed in the in the field.
In terms of Sagai, yes, I think that is a is a drama.
Let's say we have been advocating, we have, you might have heard the statements from from the special employee of the secretary general.
We have been advocating both in the video as well.
But, yeah, I think it's it's it's it's a concern and more than a concern a because, you know, people that had been affected by earthquake, but also because at the same time pose a risk for the humanitarian actors to reach the people in need.
I see Nadia has something to add.
And also for for Doctor Tushar and Mrs Reece.
So you have to raise your hand, electronic hand if you if you wish to add anything.
Maybe just to confirm that on the side of the Red Cross, so there are local teams on the ground in Zagai Township and Monua Township and we have a team travelling there at the moment with a mobile health clinic.
So we do not foresee at this time that there will be any challenge for them to reach those areas other than logistical challenge due to damaged infrastructure over.
Yeah, I also wanted to kind of add in on the question kind of around the distribution because I think we have teams on the ground, We have local partners and I think Marco, Luigi mentioned that we are working through the, we're working through the partners that we have.
We've built trust over the years because these are areas that we've been traditionally working in.
I know that on Saturday and Sunday, we had partners who are coming to pick up supplies and they were distributing them in communities.
As we said, communications are quite challenging.
I was in another community and and our sort of phone network wasn't working well.
And it meant that that it was really hard for our colleagues to actually to share back some of the some of the reports.
So I'm hoping that we will, we have more information of that in the coming days over.
You have to unmute yourself.
We mute you here and you have to do it yourself.
There are several emergency medical teams which have their presence right now on the ground and most of them arrived immediately with the bilateral agreements.
We know that there are teams from China, Russia, India and Thailand and I just learned about Bangladesh too.
Now Russian specialists are providing their inpatient surgical emergency care in in Mandalay.
Now we have certain information about the other teams as well and WH also has offered services of about 2020 different organisations with EMT teams and awaiting the defective Ministry of Health for them for their acceptance and right now as I understand that.
Certain UN agencies have a coordination sale for these teams and their work functioning from Bangkok.
And we have one of our members from headquarters who's already reached in Bangkok and working on this EMDS bank coordination.
Many more questions and yes, if you don't mind, because there are so many people who have not spoken yet.
Gabriel Sotomayor, processor, Thank you very much.
I was a little bit late and I couldn't connect from the, from the from the phone and, but I, I have two questions if maybe they were asked.
Are the authorities allowing the UN staff to do their work freely in the country?
And the second question, how many UNIFRC people have been affected with, with this earthquake and how many deaths, if any, in your personal?
Yeah, Marco, Marco Ridge has addressed this, but maybe I'll give him the floor again.
And also then to Nadia on the on this and the figures.
OK, thank you for the question.
Yes, as I was mentioning before, so far we have been, you know, we've been able, we have been able to mobilise whatever capacity we have in the country when, when it comes to, to, to, to mobilise our own human resources, but also in terms of distributing commodities and supplies to address the need and needs of the people affected.
In terms, of course, in terms of we have, we have all staff, the UN personnel and family members accounted for.
Of course, some of them they have they have been affected in terms of their own structure, as I was mentioning in in a in a board in a below and Mandalay, some of our staff, the the well, some several of our staff, they are also, you know, sleeping, sleeping outside for the fear of additional additional, you know, aftershocks.
At the same time, as I mentioned, I would say that's the all in the video and all in the in the in Mandalay, including the for AUN personnel are affected because there is no electricity there, no running model.
Olivier put that Reuters.
Thanks very much everybody for this briefing.
Can you just just a question to all agencies, just outline your priorities for the next 24 to 48 hours on the ground?
And secondly, multiple agencies have raised concerns about funding.
Is that going to affect any of your emergency operations now or is this more going to be problematic if you're then seeking to go into the next phase in terms of longer term recovery?
Don't know who wants to start.
And sorry, I also forgot to give the floor before to Nadia on the on the figures, the casualties, but maybe she can say it now.
Marco, Luigi or Yeah, I can go in terms of yeah, of course.
I mean thanks for the question about the funding.
Of course, you know at the moment we are, there has been some, some, some allocation as I mentioned at the at the beginning during the opening they've been quickly allocated $5,000,000 by through the SURF.
So OCHA has allocated, we are using to address the immediate needs in terms of water, shelter and then multiple cash purpose cash.
So that's, you know, wherever there is an opportunity, people that can use, they can use the cash to, to address their media needs.
And then of course, the protection of, of, of people.
As the, our colleague from the UNICER was mentioning, there is a need to support the children, their family to deal with the, with the, with the, with the travel and so on.
But but at the same time, there's been an allocation by, you know, PS of $10 million.
But at the same time, we're using our own resources.
So this means that if we're using our own resources, which were supposed to be used to address the needs of people affected by by by the conflict, except in other parts of the country, then we need to, let's say, replenish.
And this is where the needs of for additional funds are much needed.
Sorry, I'm having trouble with my camera.
Yeah, I wanted to address the question around the the most urgent needs and, and thank you for for this question because it is really, it's really dire.
I was in the communities on on Saturday and the most immediate and important need is water.
It is super, super hot out there and communities don't have access to running water and they don't have access to drinking water.
So we have to get water out to communities.
And as Nadia said, it's not just one time.
We need to be providing water that will last those households a couple of days and then come back to make sure that they have sufficient for their household needs until we can, until we can find a sort of more sustainable option.
I think secondly, sanitation and hygiene, the, the water pipes have broken, the sanitation, the septic tanks have broken.
And, and so it really the kind of the needs on the ground just for households and communities to sleep out, to have places to, to, for, yeah, to be able to kind of make those basic needs is absolutely dire.
And so we are prioritising water, sanitation and hygiene and distributing medicines and then nutrition supplies and protection for children, which looks at making sure that there is support for separated and unaccompanied children and also making some provisions for psychosocial support for children and their families.
Many of the children are traumatised.
The quake on Friday went on for a really long time.
Uh, it was like, yeah, a sort of a deeply traumatic event.
And there have been multiple tremors that are going on.
They're happening during the course of the night, the aftershacks.
And, and this is, uh, this is really kind of impacting on kind of the length of the trauma on, uh, the communities out there, as well as our own staff who are kind of have lost, uh, lost their homes.
They're kind of living out and, and are really trying to meet their their basic needs.
So water, sanitation, hygiene, we started distributing in UNICEF, we were kind of there in the communities on drinking water, running water, sanitation hygiene and some basic medicines and first aid kits.
And our second priority now is to get the nutrition and the psychosocial and the protection needs out there.
And then on the on the funding, yeah, again this is critical.
We have stocks on the ground.
We have pre positioned stocks that are in our kind of warehouses and with our local partners, our NGO and CBO partners on the ground.
So we just moved those first and now we're looking at replenishing them, bringing them in from overseas through our supply division and also kind of bringing our supplies up from the Yangon to those areas.
We mobilise the funds that we have And now we are looking to to see how we how we can really kind of address this kind of growing budget needs to be able to replenish the stocks that we have and to be able to support the operational costs to deliver on the ground.
Just to compliment what colleagues were saying, we are calling for solidarity with the people of of Myanmar and we hope that there will be international solidarity with people of Myanmar.
The reality is before this, the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar was a forgotten one.
I mean, you heard Marco saying over there that they were all humanitarian needs were just at 5%.
We at Tunisia are the UN refugee agency.
We had asked before this the earthquake and the disaster, it had asked for 88 million U.S.
dollars and till now we had just got a 16% of that fund.
So to move forward from here, all humanitarian efforts would need to be funded.
As you've been hearing the stocks that we have on the ground, ground will not last forever.
So we will need to fly in support and that's why it's very important that we get the resources that we need.
Thank you, thank you, Fernando, thank you very much.
During the first week or so, of course, our concentration is about trauma care and surgical care.
Now days of flash appeal which has put forward for WHO, for the health issues, health areas and there are three other areas which are extremely important.
One is, as I mentioned briefly, the essential health services, which includes vaccination.
This we can't ignore, we can't let them wait.
And secondly, the psychosocial health, I think it's a must, especially in these areas for the people who have been battered for a long time.
And thirdly, most importantly, this element of regional and global health security, health insecurity, which is at which is about to create a lot of issues for us.
So we are working with many partners even in Savine in the Cape affected areas, the C surveillance programmes are being planned.
There are ways that we can, we have done it in the past.
So we hope that we can continue provided we have adequate funding support from the international community.
I'd like to ask everybody to be short because brief because we have still a few colleagues who have to brief.
So I go now to the platform.
Gabriella, I'm sorry I haven't given follow-ups to others.
I'll go to the platform for those who have not asked question already.
Jimmy Keaton, Associated Press Thanks Alessandra.
Sorry Gabriella, I just wanted to get a quick update from Mr Corsi if possible.
Your H and RP in December mentioned that there were 3.5 million ID PS at the at the time.
Do you have immediately updated figures right before the quake or is that about the same figure?
Another question is just about, I want to make sure I didn't hear this clearly.
Are there areas that are still inaccessible?
I'm just not entirely clear.
I heard that you had access issues, but are there specific areas that are not inaccessible?
And then my last really quick question just has to do with the UN Special Rapporteur Tom Andrews today tweeted, Yunta attacks, military attacks must stop.
Obstructions to aid must be lifted.
I understand it's delicate to be precise from young gone on these issues, but donors will need to know exactly what obstruction or looting or diversion of aid is taking place.
Can you please help us elaborate on that?
Just also refer to the not to correspondent that we sent you yesterday where she's exactly saying this is Julie Bishop, the special envoy Miramar saying continuing meeting military operation in disaster affected areas risk farther loss of life and undermines the sheer imperative to respond, especially if I condemns any form of violence and call on all parties to the conflict to immediately seize hostilities and focus their efforts on the protection of civilians, including a workers and the delivery of life saving assistance.
I start with maybe with Marco Luigi.
Thank you for for the question.
Yes, we have an increase of of of items from the numbers of IDP from the three-point point meaning that we're mentioning.
And indeed, you know, the trajection is that we might reach at the end of the year more than 5 million.
So indeed we have more than 3.5 million that's compared to to to December.
Now when it comes to access, yeah, it's still some of the challenge is basically related to the lack of sorry for the for the for the destruction or the infrastructure, roads and bridges that that have been damaged.
So some of the, some of the communities cannot be, can not be reached.
Or if they are reached, it's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a quite, quite challenging as some colleagues they were mentioning before, normally you know, it would take maybe 5 hours to get to some places.
And now it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a takes a journey of eight or, or 1010 to 10 hours in deviation of AIDS.
If we can be more precise, because there are, there is, you know, if I have to be very honest and and transparent, there is always, you know what we call it a publicization of AIDS in the sense that, you know, if we deliver aid in stack control areas, then you know, the opposition is criticised or, but you deliver only in those areas.
Now if you deliver in other areas, then you know, you might get into trouble because then you know, the accusation is that OK, but you deliver, you deliver aid to to opposition which are liable as a terroristic.
But we have a strong monitoring system as far as the UN is concerned.
We have trusted partners that can report on the distribution of aid wherever they are, even even even even in areas where, where it's difficult to, to to achieve.
So as far as I know, you know, deviation of aids hasn't happened.
As I said, there is strong monitoring system that we have in place.
I'll go now to Laurent Sierra, Swiss News Agency.
So to Marco, Marco Luigi, the first one.
So you wouldn't say that years of civil war and resources designed for an authoritarian rule have affected the coordination resources and capacities of the hunter for, for, for the response.
And then secondly, so you said the critical window for search and rescue is really narrowing.
How, how, how much longer do you think it would be?
It will be possible to, to find some, some people under the rubbles.
And briefly to Nadia Kuri, because she didn't answer yet.
She hasn't answered yet on the question whether there are some casualties among the IFRC the, the, the local Red Cross volunteers.
We, we still had this pending.
OK, Michael Region and Nadia.
Well, thank you for the question.
I think, I think the question on the, on the, I would say on the, the capacity of the system to, to respond, I think it's a very, it's, it's, it's quite concerning for us to be honest.
As I said, you know, I've been here for a number of years.
You have the cyclone, you have the halfway you, the flooding into the cholera, et cetera.
And indeed, you know, the capacity of the system to respond to all these shocks.
It's, it's, it's, it's, it's deteriorating, I would say.
And that's we should not also, we should not also forget that's, you know, the military coup came just during the Covic, which also is as a big that's, you know, the capacity of decision to deliver.
And this is one, This is why as a, as a UN system, we are very much focusing on strengthening the, the, the, the, the, the resilience of community institutions and strengthening the resilience of the people themselves to cope with the, with the situation and, and then with the additional shock.
So I think it's very pertinent that This is why I mean, the focus and the moment should really be strengthening the community of community institutions, which are able even in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in a, in environment where the system does not cope, but they can cope with the, with the, with the different shocks, both at community level and are at residency, unfortunately.
And we can give you an for example, you know, and it's a link to the previous question, which is, which is about ADP.
So far what we have seen that the communities, they still, they haven't yet, let's say they haven't yet used negative copy mechanism, but they're able to support the, the, the, the IDP, the increasing number of ADP so that we, and we can see that at least the community level.
There is the kind of support also for the IDP's which are fleeing there they are, they are in the area which are under conflict and they are hosted by the community itself.
But you know, with the current, with the current kind of shocks also the the, the the resistance, the resilience of the community, they can start deteriorating and therefore also their capacity to absorb the additional, the additional number case Rd ADP might not be longer there.
Thank you very much, Nadia.
Thank you for your question and I really sincerely appreciate your concern for the community workers.
To date, we have not been able to.
We haven't received any reports of of any deceased Red Cross volunteers.
So we do have more than 7000 across the country and doubtless they would have been injured, affected, houses destroyed.
But we haven't had any reports yet of any fatalities.
We hope that will remain the case over.
I see your hand is up, but I can't.
I we we we don't have any, any sound.
Maybe just just because I I know that Marco Luigi has to leave.
So who specifically is is organising is handling most of the coordination on the aid.
And I was also wondering if you could say if you agree with the assessment of the authorities that there is no more need for for search and rescue for more search and rescue teams on the ground, if that's something.
And I had a small question for Babar just about the unexploded ordinance, if you could say just a little bit more about if you see if there have been any incidents of of that going off or you know, if you could say a bit more about that concern.
Sorry, but do you want to start because I, I see they're not sure I can start.
That's one of the worries that we have.
We have seen that the conflict has intensified in the last four years.
It has been going on and at least since the last two years, we have seen it a kind of intensifying more.
That's one of the worries that as people move around and as you heard, you know many of them are now without shelters.
Even those structures which are standing, people are really worried to go into it.
There was an aftershocks as was mentioned even till till yesterday.
We hope that we are able to provide with all the materials.
We are sending some shelter and relief for for them, but that's a worry as people may move around to the areas where the conflict has been going on.
Maybe Marcolichi in between has managed to.
Yes, thank, thank you for the question here.
So in terms of coordination, you know from our side it's a it's a UN OCHA which is through the the cluster system that's is coordinating in terms of search and rescue.
What I can say is that there are still a number of people missing.
I was, I was saying something to Francois.
OK, So thank you very much.
We have the next speaker who also has to leave afterwards.
So I would like to apologise with everyone who has not been able to ask follow up questions and also thanks so much Our colleagues from Rangoon, who has been extremely dedicated in giving us this information.
Like to ask my colleagues to stay on the podium for a moment because there is a general question from Imogen.
And then we will go to Florence who also has to leave.
Thank you very much, Marco.
Julia and Nadia, good luck with your important work in the next days and keep us informed of the developments.
And then we'll go to France.
Yeah, it's for OCHA, UNICEF, IFRCI, MEAN, maybe UNHCR, it's about Gaza.
Have you got any update on how these aid workers died?
And follow up, how, how are you actually working there now?
And you announced this reducing your footprint, I think one day after these people were killed, although we didn't know that at the time.
Just wondering if it was connected.
And finally, to an outside observer, what's happening now, it looks a bit like a strategy of maybe make it so utterly unbearable in Gaza that people almost beg to leave.
But if that happens, what would what would you do?
And then whoever wants to take the floor.
It has been a very difficult weekend, I think for for all of us.
You've, you, you have seen the videos that, that we put out that that normally we're not at loss for words.
We're spokespeople, but sometimes we have difficulty finding them.
This is one of those cases.
That's what I can say and that's what we have reported as well.
I think we we have been out there and, and, and told you us IFRC others told you what, what happened.
So I will not go into that.
You will have seen what Under Secretary General Fletcher tweeted out as well demanding justice and answers.
And on that, I can say as of this morning, we have not received the answers expected.
We keep engaging with these radio authorities dailies daily on this and on other burning matters, including, importantly, the critical needs to reopen crossings for supplies.
Because while this is a huge blow to us on all levels, the crisis itself, you know, just moves on and gets worse every day.
Anybody else from the UN?
Yeah, James Imogen, just to add from a UNICEF point of view, yes, the footprints reduced, but we have nutritionists there, but those focus on water, sanitation, child protection.
But Yen's is is absolutely spot on.
We've now three weeks of of a complete blockade on on aid.
So you mentioned the word word unbearable.
It is hard to continue to capture, but it was very much unbearable in the middle of October for people.
And I think there was a a real sense that as much as those in Gaza follow the news, they were worried about phase two of the ceasefire.
They had to have a great deal of hope.
They are now running on sheer will to survive and sheer will doesn't get you to survive.
When we see breach after breach of IHL, breach after breach of restricting aid.
So this can't fall from the world's attention and conscious because we are seeing unprecedented breaches across international humanitarian law.
And that's why we've seen, you know, since the ceasefire broke down or was broken, 100 children have been killed and maimed every single day since that moment.
Thank you, Iman, for the question.
Just would like to echo what UN colleagues just just said on the shocking, outrageous incident and what we saw last Sunday.
Just want to add that one colleague of Palisade Crescent is still missing.
And we continue calling to have more information about what has happened.
And on the situation inside the Gaza Strip.
I mean, it just, we already said that there are no, not anymore words.
I just want to add that we're looking into an health crisis.
We're looking into at least our mobile clinics, Palisade Crescent mobile clinics, hospitals that are running out of medicines, medical equipments are literally overwhelmed.
And again, we already said it, I think, a couple of weeks ago here, that the ambulances of Palisade Crescent are the one answering to the emergency number that Palestinians can call when they need help.
More than half now are not working and continue that because of lack of fuel or because they were damaged.
So if this continue, it will mean that in the next future, Palestinians will not have any more ambulances to save lives.
And of course, this is unacceptable.
Yeah, sorry, a correction.
It's in the last 10 days that we've seen a minimum of 100 children killed or maimed and remembering most of these children were living in in makeshift shelters.
These children have been displaced many times.
There is a level of terror now that it will take historians a long time to unpack.
And we're not talking about an event that's passed and that we should be shamed by.
We're talking event that, as you rightly point out, Imogen is worsening.
Thank you very, very much.
I'm so sorry to press, everyone.
We still have a few people to that need to brief, but I'd like to thanks to thank all of you for for being with me on the podium today and also for this update on Gaza.
Gabriel, I'm sorry, Florence, France has to go.
So Florence, please come on the podium.
And James, if if you're staying in the room, Gabriella will have a question for you afterwards.
Yeah, Florence, I'd like to welcome now Florence Bauer, who is the UNFPA, sorry, regional director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
And France has an update on another conflict.
I'm so sorry that we want to speak about conflicts today and and emergencies and and natural catastrophes, but that's what we need to highlight.
And France has an update on a new UNFPA report on please go ahead on the rise of gender based violence in the shadow of the war in Ukraine.
Just thank you so much and and starting expressing my solidarity as well with the people Myanmar as you and FPA.
We also present there in our offices also happy to contribute with any information if you want to reach out to to them.
But I'm going to focus on indeed on another situation in Ukraine.
As we all know, we are over three years after the Russia's full scale invasion and the situation continues to be absolutely difficult for everybody, but in particular to women and girls.
As we can imagine, in particular the ones who are near to the front lines have very limited access to social and health services and that's coupled with heavy mental stress.
But in the shadow of this war, often behind closed doors, there is another crisis that is unfolding and that's a crisis of intensifying gender based violence.
So we are launching today here and we're doing also we'll have different events in Ukraine and elsewhere.
A report that is called the Voices from Ukraine and that paints A harrowing picture of so many ways that war is fuelling gender based violence.
It is based on an in depth discussion with 300 women from communities in for region in Ukraine.
So it's really looking about getting through the discussion to get qualitative kind of information.
So what the report is telling us first of all, is that the war has made home much less safe for women and girls.
And this is happening for several key factors.
So as we know, there is of course, the heightened stress that it's also coupled with an increased usage of alcohol and drugs and this is a fuelling intimate partner and other terms of domestic violence.
What we also see is that men who are returning from the world, so either the War of veterans or if they're coming on the break, they're struggling with trauma themselves and with a number of mental health challenges and that's also affecting their behaviours.
I have been talking to a woman when I was in Ukraine and one of them was telling me how like, her husband became a different person after the war and started to have behaviours that he didn't have before.
What we also see is that we are in a situation, as we know, of air alert and curfews that restrict the mobility of women.
So very often the ones who are experiencing violence, they're trapped at home jointly with their abusers and it's very difficult for them to go outside.
And in addition, the whole unemployment and financial insecurity increases the woman's dependence on perpetrators and the displaced women and girls, they face increased vulnerability also to ***** due to the lack of privacy.
Very often in shared accommodation, you have many people in a single room.
And that of course increases the risk of of violence.
But what the report also told tells us, on the other hand, is that women also feel increasingly unsafe in public spaces.
And as stated by one of the women in the report, she said that violence is everywhere.
And this happens for different reason.
On one hand, the attacks on energy infrastructure, the different blackouts that are happening the way that many of the public spaces are, of course we have rubbles and have many abandoned streets and and and places in the city make it much less safe for the woman.
And as one of them was seeing woman from Calf Cave and here we'll be reading her code.
She says that these days I would not walk along the highway on my own because someone might turn up and do something.
One day your guy gave me a ride and started harassing me.
So we'll never do such things again.
So that's one of so many statements and testimonials that you can find at the report.
And on the other hand, what we also see is that a growing sense of insecurity in the public space has a cascading effect because it's more difficult for women and girls to go out and seek for help.
So when something happens and it's very often it's in the dark, it's after, it's behind the closed door.
And it's very difficult also to neighbours to know what's going on next door because of the restriction of ability, because of the fear that people have to go outside.
So that's the kind of elements that the report brings.
And as I stated also in the Ukraine Humanitarian Needs and Response plan for 2025, we estimate that 2.52 point 4, sorry million people in Ukraine, mostly women and girls are experiencer or at at risk of gender based violence.
And this is also coupled with another data that we have that shows that 2/3 of household are reporting anxiety, depression or extreme stress due to economic instability, to the job loss, and of course to the overall stress that is related to the wall.
So what we see is that in this context, we of course need infrastructure, We of course need to rebuild roads, to rebuild the energy infrastructure.
But we need more than that.
We also need to invest in the prevention of gender based gender based violence, on the risk mitigation and on the support to the survivors of gender based violence.
One thing that is particularly important is to support women LED organisation because those are the ones that provide support to women and and we and they absolutely need their support.
We also need to promote women's participation and economic empowerment, and we need stronger male support for women and for men because we also have this situation where the men come back from the front lines themselves under trauma, and they do need the mental health support to protect them and to protect the people around them.
And that's what as UNFPA we're doing in Ukraine.
As you know, we're working closely with the government of Ukraine for the prevention, for the provision of critical social services, including case management, psychosocial support, legal aid and referrals, because it's so important that the survivors are supported so that they can go over the traumas it's experiencing.
What I also want to take a few seconds to highlight is that as you know, with the recent funding cuts by the United States and also given the growing adversity globally against women's rights and well-being, part of the services that we are providing are currently under risk.
And to give you one example, around 50% of the size of social teams that we have in the country around the front line to provide support prior and priority lead to women and girls, but also to men.
50% of them could have to stop if we don't manage to get alternative support.
We might also lose some case managers for survivors or gender based violence.
We might also need to close some of the safe spaces to give you a number for 2520, 25th, 26th.
We were the US supports that we had was critical to reach over 600,000 individuals across the countries.
So we are of course reorganising ourselves.
We are finding different ways, but this is a kind of support that is at risk right now.
So that's why we're also calling on the international community to step in and to continue to support us as we need to tackle the hidden face of wars, that is and there is violence and that's not visible very often.
It's hidden by the overall situation.
But we know how important it is to invest in women so that we can ensure their safeties and well-being so that they can also contribute to the recovery of the country.
This is an extremely important report.
I'm happy that we were able to to inform the journalists on this.
I'll open the floor to questions now.
If there are any in the room, I go to the platform.
John Zarro, Costas, Francois Cato, good morning.
Thank you for this briefing.
I was just wondering your comments, are there an update to the report that UNFPA released on 19th of March or is it the same report just not to confuse with editors?
It's the one that is being launched today.
It was already online, so you probably have seen it.
I don't know the exact date, but it's possible that it was online at that moment.
It probably is the same if it's called Voice of Ukraine.
I think because he's not raising his hand again.
I just didn't want to be confused.
Yuria Prelev the university, Yes, thanks for the report.
The first one is regarding to the to the data.
Did you say that it is 2.4 millions and women's and girl that are at risk of gender violence in Ukraine?
And my second question is regarding the level of rapes, if you have any data on that, if you know if there are more than before, etcetera.
So it's an estate indeed it's 2.5 million of people in Ukraine who are mostly women and girls who are experiencing or at risk of gender based violence.
And on your second question of the level of ****, we do not have numbers, but we are providing support through our centres to the women survivors of ****.
I don't see other Gabriella, sorry.
Do you have another report on of this issue in in other countries, for example in Mexico where there is no war, but there's a lot of women gender violence?
Our country office in Mexico would certainly have some level of data.
I'm not aware of a similar report, but we will need happy to go back on you on that one.
If you're particularly interested in Mexico, we my colleagues can put you in touch with our country office in Mexico.
Thank you very much, Florence.
I don't see other questions for you on the platform or in the room.
So thank you very, very much.
Thanks for your patience and sorry, I hope we didn't make you late.
And I quickly go to WHO Margaret and her guests.
So we have the pleasure to host together with Margaret, Dr Valedia Gigante, who is the scientist and antimicrobial resistance research and development lead and our colleague.
Welcome for also the presentation of 2 reports.
I don't know who wants to speak first.
I mean, we've, we really desperately need and it's, it's how to prevent a medical disaster.
But, and, and also to mention that this is Doctor Alexandra Cameron, who is a colleague.
They're both from the antimicrobial resistance.
And she will answer questions, but Doctor Valeria will start with remarks explaining the reports.
So thank you so much for the floor.
I'm going to talk about fungi, invasive fungal disease today.
They are among the most abundant Organism on the planet and around 200 of them are known to cause disease in humans.
Current estimates indicated 2.5 million states are directly linked to invasive fungal infection every year.
Thus, invasive fungi are a public health concern as they are becoming increasingly common, increasingly resistant and and also hard to recognise.
Fungal disease range from common localised and superficial infection to life threatening conditions with **** mortality mortality rates even if treated.
Invasive fungal disease are serious infection cause by fungi that invade and spread within the body, often affecting internal organs such as the brain, lungs, spinal cord and the central nervous systems.
This infection can be deadly, especially individuals with weakened immune systems such as patient with HIV, TB, cancer, diabetes or under critical care.
For instance, Candidoris effects ill people and can cause bloodstream infection, sepsis and multiple organ failure.
It has caused outbreaks in hospital and is very difficult to eradicate as it grows even on plastic.
Medical equipment is often resistant to antifungal medicine.
This means that it can be difficult or sometimes impossible to treat.
Multidrug resistant fungi pose multiple challenges to clinicians that today have only a limited arsenal of drugs with only four antifungal classes.
Our report found that the number of candidates in the antifungal pipeline is alarmingly low.
We have 9 antifungal medicine of which 3 candidates in the final development stage.
This means new treatment are expected in the next 10 years.
Innovation is also very scarce.
Half of the pipeline is not innovative and innovation here is critical because we need new way to **** this deadly fungi.
There are also a fair of available commercial diagnostics system to identify fungal priority pathogens.
However, these offer rely on well equipped laboratories with well trained staff making access unevenly distributed particularly in LMIC and this leads to undiagnosed case and potential overuse of antimicrobials leading to drug resistance.
So increased efforts in RND are needed for both medicine and diagnostics alongside efforts to strengthen diagnostics capacity, including investing in diagnostic services and developing the skilled workforce.
And the last button of the list, we also need policy measure for equitable and timely access.
Is that a question or just an elbow?
Any question to to the doctor from WH on this matter.
Thank you very much for this.
Just a very pedestrian question for, you know, average Joe about that, for example, myself included.
What does this mean for the general public?
I mean, obviously you're you're raising concern, but in terms of real world impact, how concerned should everyday people be by this?
Thank you so much for this question that allows us to speak a little bit of who should be really concerned about this, this infection.
So fungal pathogens merely attack people who are already vulnerable already 6 with some maybe underlying morbidities.
They have illness, weakened or suppressed immune system due to infection, chemotherapy, organ transplant.
We mentioned people with HIVTB, chronic respiratory conditions, also patients in healthcare settings, maybe those with invasive medical device such as catheter breeding tubes, feeding tubes as the because this fungi can enter the body also using these types of device.
The number of vulnerable people worldwide is also increasing because we are living longer and this make us also surviving infection and conditions that one sometimes ago were were deadly.
But also fungal infection can affect the people who have not traditionally been at risk Fungal infection.
For example, during the COVID pandemic we saw the spread of mucromycosis, the so-called black fungus that was infecting people recovering from COVID, attacking their body tissue, penetrating also in their brain.
And these people were there were really severe cases requiring the removal of an infected eye, nose, jaw bones and some infection were really fatal.
And also as the climate change contributes to the spreading of pathogenic fungi to new location, more people worldwide becomes at risk.
So the community moves at most at risk are always the same.
Suffering from the health impact of climate change, such as stores and low resource settings.
Do fungal pathogens can really impact everyone, everywhere?
Do I see any other hands electronically physical?
Thank you very, very much.
Thanks for your patience.
This has been a long briefing, Margaret.
You wanted to add something?
Just to say, the reports are now the embargoes lift.
This has been such a long briefing with Scott past the embargo.
And there's a press release.
I did send the embargoed version of you earlier, embargoed version to you.
And the embargoes lifted on that as well.
Maybe wait for the links to come good.
But basically the reports and the press release embargo has all lifted on this.
And then also colleagues, I'm sure that if there are further questions that will come to you straight send the notes.
I'd like to ask Jennifer to come to the podium now because there is a question for her.
We also had on the list Catherine Risu.
I think she had to leave.
So I will read announcement to you after Jennifer.
Oh no, Jamie's still on the line.
So Jamie had to go, but he's on the line still.
So Jamie, you wanted to have Jennifer on the podium for an on the record answer to your questions.
I can see your name on the list.
Otherwise, I read you what you sent me.
I don't know if he's still there or if he's just the name and, and he had to drop off.
So what Jamie has asked me to ask you is the following.
Jennifer, can you please give us the reaction of the special envoy to the new government in Syria?
The United Nations Special Envoy for Syria welcomes the unveiling of a new and expanded Cabinet.
Mr Garrow Patterson reaffirms the importance of an inclusive political transition that enables the Syrian people to restore their sovereignty, overcome the ongoing conflict, realise their legitimate aspirations and contribute to regional stability.
In this regard, the Special Envoy encourages continued efforts by the interim authorities toward a credible, inclusive and sustainable transition in terms of governance and also in terms of the next transitional steps, including the formation of a provisional Legislative Council and a committee to draught the Constitution and preparations for free and fair elections to the highest international standards in line with key principles of Security Council Resolution 2254.
The Special Envoy plans to return to Damascus soon to continue his engagements with the interim authorities, as well as a broad spectrum of Syrians and other key international stakeholders.
I don't yet have a date for those travels, but I will share them with you when I do.
And if we can get your statements, we will also distribute it to the journalist.
Other questions for Jennifer, I don't see any.
So I'm left with only two announcements for you.
There is a question, John.
0 Costas Yes, good morning.
I was wondering if the Special envoy had any views on the fact that the transition will be for five years and secondly, on the very low representation of women in the new transitional government.
The Special Envoy briefed the Security Council regarding the Constitutional Declaration, so I can resend you the link to those comments.
Regarding questions about whether the new body is inclusive enough, Clearly this new and expanded Cabinet is more inclusive than the one established after 8 December.
The special envoy will be closely following how the wide spectrum of the Syrian people view the composition of this and other bodies and their formations.
It's important that all transitional bodies reflect the diverse sources of competency and constituency in Syria, including both men and women.
Thank you very much, Jennifer.
So Jennifer, my question was very specific on the number of women represented in the new government, how many women in the new government and what is the view of the special envoy?
I just I'll defer you obviously to the interim authorities regarding the make up of the Cabinet.
I think there are 23 new ministerial positions of which one is a woman.
I just noted what Mr Patterson thinks of its inclusive nature.
Thank you very much, Jennifer for this follow up.
I'll now go to my last two announcements and then let everybody go for lunch.
So Katherine, we sue wanted to sorry here.
So I wanted to remind you that on the 3rd of April, we will have the press conference of Rebecca Greenspan, the Secretary General of Ankta, together with Anka Gonzalez sons.
They had Technology, innovation and Knowledge development branch.
Also, Vanktad, they will present you the Technology and Innovation Report 2025, whose title is Inclusive Artificial Intelligence for Development.
There's an embargo on this press conference on the reports for two 3230 Geneva time.
And sorry, I forgot to say the press conference at 10 AM.
And the other press conference, I think it has just been announced by Solange and it's to be organised by our colleagues of the UN Mine Action Service on Mass.
The subject is the 28th International Meeting of Mine Action National Directors and United Nations Advisors, which will take place in Geneva from the 9th to the 11th April 2025.
The speaker at the press conference will be Eileen Khan, who was Director of UNMAS and Ambassador Tobias privately tell sorry, Director of GICHD.
We also hear from our colleagues at UNMAS that many of these directors, national directors that will be coming to Geneva will also be available for questions, for interviews and we hope to bring some of them to you at the end of the meeting for further press conference.
So if there are no other questions to me this time in the room or online, there are none.
Thanks for having followed this very long briefing and see you at the end of the week on Friday.
