| Thursday, 12 September 2024 Post-presser links Media briefing held on 12 September 2024 on the situation in Gaza Speakers - Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory
- Mr Pete Skelton, Rehabilitation in Emergencies Advisor, WHO
- Dr Thanos Gargavanis, Trauma Surgeon and Emergency Officer, WHO
- Dr Deepak Kumar, Technical Officer, WHO
-- Opening remarks by Dr Richard Peeperkorn, WHO Representative for the occupied Palestinian territory WHO analysis: Estimating Trauma Rehabilitation Needs in Gaza using Injury Data from Emergency Medical Teams - WHO has conducted an analysis that highlights vast unmet rehabilitation needs in Gaza. The analysis focuses solely on new injuries sustained since the escalation of hostilities in October 2023.
- At least one quarter or 22 500 of those injured in Gaza by 23 July (over 95 000) are estimated to have life-changing injuries that require rehabilitation services now and for years to come.
- Severe limb injuries are estimated to be between 13 455 to 17 550, and are the main driver of the need for rehabilitation. Many of those injured have more than one injury.
- Major extremity injury is the most common injury, followed by amputation, burn, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury.
- Between 3105 and 4050 limb amputations have also occurred.
- These people are not only severely injured, but have often lost family members, friends, homes and livelihoods, and have been displaced time and time again. Rather than receiving ongoing care in a hospital or rehabilitation centre, they are displaced and living in overcrowded homes or tents, without access to many of the basic services they need.
- The huge surge in rehabilitation needs occurs in parallel with the ongoing decimation of the health system.
- Currently, only 17 of 36 hospitals remain partially functional in Gaza, while primary health care and community-level services are frequently suspended or rendered inaccessible due to insecurity, attacks, and repeated evacuation orders.
- Gaza’s only limb reconstruction and rehabilitation center, located in Nasser Medical Complex and supported by WHO, became non-functional in December 2023 due to lack of supplies and specialized health workers being forced to leave in search of safety, and was later left damaged following a raid in February 2024.
- The three pre-existing inpatient rehabilitation units (Al Amal, Sheikh Hammad, Al Wafaa) are not operational.
- The only 2 prosthetic centres were located in Gaza city. One was damaged, one has been inaccessible throughout the war. Some basic repair services have newly restarted at one and a new service is being established in the South.
- At least 39 rehabilitation professionals are reported killed. Many others are displaced
- In-patient rehabilitation and prosthetic services are no longer available and the number of people with injuries requiring assistive products far exceeds the equipment available within Gaza.
- The needs for rehabilitation are on top of the tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza who were already living with pre-existing chronic conditions and impairments before this, putting them at significant risk due to the lack of appropriate services.
- There are also many thousands of people with health conditions and disabilities that have also lost all access to the rehabilitation services and assistive products that they depend upon.
- Existing national providers, NGOs and EMTs are mounting rehabilitation responses but face huge challenges due to insecurity, access and limited supplies. A huge surge in support will be needed to meet the new needs.
- WHO supply monitoring indicates only 13% of assistive product needs for the injured have been met. Getting products into Gaza is extremely challenging, with severe delays. Though WHO monitoring may underestimate the total supplies in country, this figure is for injury only and does not consider the huge surge in needs for the 1.9m displaced.
- This research was possible because Emergency Medical Teams, in field hospitals or embedded within national facilities, have provided almost 1.5 million consultations as part of the ongoing Gaza response, and have become an integral part of the Gaza health system. There are currently 20 teams (15 organizations) on the ground.
- This research used the Emergency Medical Team Minimum Data Set, created by WHO to standardize reporting for medical teams deploying in response to health emergencies and improve operational responses. Other related work by the EMT initiative includes standards and recommendation for rehabilitation, the promotion of early rehabilitation activities and ongoing efforts to invest in specialized rehabilitation teams.
Basic methodology summary - We analysed over 8000 daily reports (of the EMT Minimum Data Set) from EMTs working in field hospitals or inside health facilities in Gaza between January and May 2024.
- Key Health events, including injuries, are reported by EMTs. Trauma related health events were extracted. Minor injuries (those not requiring anaesthetic) were then excluded.
- Injury breakdowns were calculated as a percentage of the overall number of injuries. Some minor modifications were made due to acknowledged constraints in the methodology.
- These percentages were then applied to the overall number of people injured, and estimated ranges were provided to allow for polytrauma (as many people have more than 1 injury).
Polio vaccination campaign - The last day of the polio vaccination campaign in Gaza is ending shortly today.
- Campaign in the north was held from 10-12 Sept.
- Vaccines and supplies were transferred to the north on 9 Sept, however a WHO mission transporting fuel for the campaign and hospitals was unable to reach the north and had to be aborted after waiting at the holding point for 5 hours.
- The WHO team manage to reach the north on 10 Sept and provided the much-needed fuel.
- We are grateful that the area-specific humanitarian pauses have been respected during the campaign and urge for all parties to cease hostilities and work towards a ceasefire.
- So far in the north we have reached 105909 children under ten years of age. In middle area: 195,722 and in south 250,820.
- This brings the total number of children vaccinated as of yesterday to 552 451. Numbers for today are still awaited.
- It has been heartening to see the response to the campaign. Everywhere the team has gone, parents are doing all they can to ensure their child does not miss vaccination. Many vaccination sites received more than expected crowds. Special coordinated missions were also conducted to reach children in insecure and heard to reach areas.
Latest medical evacuations supported by WHO - On 11 September, WHO in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and partners, supported the medical evacuation of 97 sick and severely injured patients (49 females, 48 males) from Gaza to Abu Dhabi, UAE via Ramon airport. 155 companions accompanied them.
- This was the largest evacuation yet from Gaza since October 2023.
- This was a highly complex and time-pressured evacuation which was conducted in parallel with other WHO-missions and the polio campaign.
- Patients include 45 children and 52 adults with the following diseases:
- Blood disease: 3
- Cancer:27
- Cardiovascular disease: 15
- Congenital anomalies: 10
- Ear condition: 1
- Endocrine disease: 1
- Eye condition: 7
- Immunologic disorder: 1
- Liver disease: 2
- Renal Disease: 1
- Skin Condition: 2
- Trauma: 27
- Despite insecurity and severe operational challenges, prior to the evacuation, 8 patients and their 12 companions were transferred by WHO and partners on 10 September, from Al-Shifa hospital to European Gaza Hospital. During the mission to Al-Shifa, WHO and partners also provided 43,000 litres of fuel for use by vehicles for polio vaccinators and for Al-Shifa as well as supported rotation of an emergency medical team.
- Other patients were picked up from four locations in Deir al-Balah and Khan Younis.
- Evacuation of this scale puts a significant strain on teams and resources. Our team had to undertake extensive preparations to set up adequate facilities at European Gaza Hospital to ensure it can host patients gathering and staying overnight for the evacuation. The old COVID ward at the hospital was used for this. Setup involved: cleaning, establishing water connection, repairing toilets and plumbing, repairing electrical connections, securing beds and mattresses, as well as a solid waste management, establishing security measures with field officers, medical coverage for emergencies with PRCS and CADUS EMTs, having MHPSS specialists standing by, moving patients and caregivers to Kerem Shalom, safely and efficiently.
- During the evacuation, patients underwent back-to-back transfer at Kerem Shalom, where they boarded buses, organized by WHO, heading to the airport after security checks. WHO provided wheelchairs to ensure patients could safely switch buses at the crossing, arranged access to food, water and medical professionals during the entire journey within Gaza and en route to the airport, and supported patient documentation.
- Since 7 May, 122 people have been evacuated outside Gaza for medical treatment.
*************** Audio files Length: 58 mins Download and listen: https://who.canto.global/b/INOBE Weblink: https://terrance.who.int/mediacentre/presser/WHO-AUDIO_Press_Conference_12SEP2024.mp3 Related links WHO analysis highlights vast unmet rehabilitation needs in Gaza WHO images from Gaza for media: WHO Eastern Mediterranean region photo library - Gallery - Situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: October 2023 - September 2024 Media have to register once in order to be able to download images. Link to register: https://photos.emro.who.int/join  You are receiving this NO-REPLY email because you are included on a WHO mail list.
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