WHO slams under-funding for hardest-hit countries

Out of 21 appeals for aid to war-ravaged and disaster-hit countries, five have received a zero response and four of these are in Africa, the World Health Organisation (WHO) pointed out on Wednesday. “Hardest hit are Burundi, the Republic of Congo, Uganda, Sudan and the Indonesian islands of Maluku where, despite enormous health needs due to continued conflict or its aftermath, donors have so far offered no cash for WHO’s emergency health programmes,” the organisation said in a press release.

It underlined that these programmes were life-saving for people hit by war, displacement and natural disasters. WHO further added that an appeal for DRC and a combined appeal for the Great Lakes region had attracted less than 10 percent of the required funds. “It is hard to understand why the response is so poor,” said Dr Xavier Leus, the director of WHO’s department of emergency and humanitarian action. “We are seeing people - especially women and children - who have shown great courage, surviving war, drought and extreme food shortages, now finding their lives threatened by illness and disease that could be prevented by the most basic health interventions.” In Burundi, for example, much of the health structure has been destroyed.

More than 15 women in every 1,000 who give birth to a live baby die in childbirth and “no donor has seen fit to provide the US $200,000 WHO believes is needed to re-establish safe motherhood practices”.