| 19 Juin 2015
18 June 2015, Damascus – A cargo plane carrying 15 metric tonnes of much needed life-saving medicines and surgical supplies for almost 40 000 people landed in Deir ez-Zor city.
This shipment is the second airlift that WHO has delivered this week. On Sunday, an airlift of 30 metric tonnes of chronic disease medicines, including for hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy, mental illness, as well as surgical supplies landed in Qamishly carrying assistance for some 78 000 people.
“These landmark deliveries will support people in need in some of Syria's most remote areas, struggling to survive in harsh conditions,” said WHO Representative to Syria, Elizabeth Hoff. “The priority is to help people in need across Syria with required medicines, especially in besieged and hard-to-reach areas”.
Almost 228 000 people are besieged in the city of Deir ez-Zor. The health infrastructure has been severely damaged with over half of the public health facilities either damaged of completely out of service. Furthermore, over 188 000 displaced persons are currently living in in Al-Hassake. The governorate was an under-resourced area already prior to the conflict and has been severely affected by the violence.
The funding support for medical deliveries are coming from the United States, Kuwait, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, the United Arab Emirates, and Luxembourg. Every week, WHO dispatches trucks carrying medical aid to an average of 196 500 people across Syria.
Since the beginning of 2015, WHO has delivered over 10 million medical treatments to people in need.
