| 21 Janvier 2015
Erbil, January 2015. To serve the population that has been under siege for seven months and minimize the challenges they face in terms of limited access to health care and lack of life saving medicines, WHO delivered five basic units of Interagency Emergency Health Kits (IEHK) to Dhuluiya district in Salah Aldin governorate. The kits, delivered on Jan 8, contained medicines sufficient to cover the needs of 5000 people for three months.
These five WHO basic (IEHK) kits were part of the United Nations Interagency emergency response to the critical needs of Dhuluiya population who were inaccessible for seven months.
“The IEHK that WHO provided is part of the Joint UN response to an estimated population of 1200 families in Dhuluiya; WHO is here to save lives of people in critical humanitarian settings through delivering the much needed health technologies”, said Dr Jaffer Hussain, Representative and Head of Mission, World Health Organization, Iraq.
Dr Jaffer added that, since August, 2014, WHO has delivered medical supplies for treating over 1.2 million people in Iraq, a majority of whom live in IDP camps and hard to reach areas.
The district of Dhuluiya (80 km south of Tikrit- 50 miles north of Baghdad) went under months of insecurity which resulted in the destruction of hundreds of houses and the displacement of thousands of people. An estimated 1,200 Dhuluiya families including IDPs from Al-Alam district gave an urgent appeal for humanitarian assistance met by the immediate response of WHO and other UN partners.
To meet the health needs of the affected population and the returnees from the displacement camps, WHO will continue monitoring the health situation of the population in Dhuluiya and coordinate efforts with Salah Aldin directorate of health to assess the urgent needs of the health facilities operating in the governorate and prepare for the required response through a disease surveillance system, in government and opposition-controlled areas, reporting on a weekly basis.
As needs continue to rise, WHO will also provide additional medical supplies, strengthen disease surveillance in the wake of the winter season and monitors the ongoing health needs.