This is the highest rate of mental health need ever recorded, across UNRWA’s medical system.

UNRWA’s health programmes support some two million Palestine refugees across Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory composed of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem and Gaza, as well as in Syria.

Immensely challenging year

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Dr. Akihiro Seita, UNRWA’s Director of Health, highlighted the “immense challenges” faced by the agency’s health programmes in the past year: in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic, he listed the devastating cholera outbreak in Syria and Lebanon, regional turbulence and UNRWA’s ongoing funding crisis.

He stressed that UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank continue to provide vital healthcare amid hostilities.

Eight million seen

Last year, the UN agency managed to provide around eight million medical consultations.

That includes around 300,000 people living with diabetes and hypertension or non-communicable diseases and also 90,000 pregnant mothers”, said Dr. Seita.

Out of the 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees, it is estimated that 3.2 million are registered at UNRWA centres, and receive health services free of charge. The number of consultations increased by 12.4 percent compared to 2021.

In 2022, UNRWA’s health programmes successfully combated a resurgence of cholera in the refugee camps in Lebanon, in addition to the highly infectious Omicron strain of COVID-19.

Furthermore, UNRWA health centres in Gaza and the occupied West Bank provided vital health care amid the on-going hostilities.

Airstrikes, violence continues

“Last week, we had armed conflict in Gaza but still all 22 health centres stayed open and provided critical primary healthcare service and fifty percent of the staff continued to attend,” emphasized Dr. Seita.

Currently, it is estimated that 3.2 million or 53.9 per cent of Palestinian refugees still heavily rely on UNRWA services due to economic hardship, high unemployment rates, and worsening poverty levels, especially in conflict areas.

Around a third of registered Palestinian refugees reside in 58 official refugee camps, living side-by-side among host countries’ communities.

Gender-based violence increasing

UNRWA manages 240 health centers with more than 3,000 staff that provide a comprehensive range of primary healthcare.

“Gender-based violence is also on the rise. That is our main concern and worry”, said Dr. Seita. “At the same time, children are suffering not only mentally, but also physically.”

Mental health is another of UNRWA’s health priorities. According to Dr. Seita, patients in Gaza have the highest detection rate at 26.4 per cent. In 2021, around 15,000 people needed psychosocial support.

Over the span of seven decades of displacement, the number of Palestine refugees has increased from 750,000 in 1950, to 5.9 million in 2022.

In Myanmar, the UN appealed on Tuesday for $333 million to assist 1.6 million of the most vulnerable people, many of whom have lost their homes as the cyclone hit the west of the country over a week ago.

The UN’s top aid official in the country, Ramanathan Balakrishnan, told reporters in Geneva that the disaster had left hundreds of thousands without a roof over their heads as the monsoon looms.

Among the priorities is providing people with safe shelter and preventing the outbreak and spread of water-borne diseases.

1.6 million in Myanmar in need of aid

With coastal winds recorded at up to 250 kilometres per hour making landfall off the Bay of Bengal on 14 May, Mocha brought flooding and landslides to an area that is home to hundreds of thousands already displaced by the protracted conflict in Myanmar, many of them the Rohingya minority of Rakhine state.

The UN appeal requests an “urgent injection” of funds to support those in the highest impact zone across Rakhine, Chin, Magway, Sagaing and Kachin states.

Speaking via Zoom from Yangon, Mr. Balakrishnan, who is the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar, said that the 1.6 million people identified for support under the new funding appeal include “people who have lost their homes, people who lack access to health services and clean water, people who are food insecure or malnourished, displaced people in camps, stateless people, women, children and people with disabilities”.

Rebuilding before the monsoon

Mr. Balakrishnan warned that “those affected are facing a long, miserable monsoon season if we cannot mobilize resources in time”.

He also gave reporters a glimpse of the harsh conditions facing internally displaced people, or IDPs, in the capital of Myanmar’s Rakhine State, Sittwe.

He recounted that an IDP from a camp in Sittwe told his colleagues that his shelter was destroyed while his family took refuge at an evacuation site at the height of the storm.

“Those who stayed had faced a horrible experience as the camp was submerged in water from the storm surge,” the UN aid official said, before insisting on the need for medical care, clean water and food, as well as support to rebuild shelters.

Humanitarian response underway

Hundreds of humanitarian personnel are on the ground in Rakhine state, already providing food aid, shelter, water and hygiene items “wherever they have access”, while mobile health teams have been supporting people on the ground, Mr. Balakrishnan said, with plans for additional urgent aid distribution.

“Thousands of people have already received support and we are hoping to soon receive the green light for a two-week distribution plan… across all affected communities in Rakhine and Chin”, he announced.

Rohingya refugees hit in Bangladesh

In neighbouring Bangladesh, the UN is appealing for $42 million to support the cyclone response, including $36 million for Rohingya refugees living in camps in the affected areas.

Gwyn Lewis, UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh speaking from Dhaka, told reporters that more than 400,000 people in the country were impacted and 40,000 Rohingya refugees living in camps saw their homes – most often temporary bamboo structures – destroyed or damaged.

More food ration cuts

Ms. Lewis stressed that the cyclone came on the heels of food ration cuts for refugees and a devastating fire in March, in which 16,000 had lost their homes.

Adding to the refugees’ hardship, she said that lack of funding is forcing the UN to cut their food rations for a second time as of 1 June. “This means that the Rohingya refugees will receive only 67 per cent of the needed food rations, so one million people will only be getting about two-thirds of the needed food,” she added.

Life-saving early warnings

Thankfully, the Government of Bangladesh acted quickly upon the cyclone warnings, Ms. Lewis said, and evacuated some 700,000 people from Mocha’s path, which helped save countless lives.

She expressed hope that new funding will allow to rebuild the homes of the Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh with more weather-resistant materials and improve resilience.

On Monday, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stressed the power of early warning services in preventing the worst impacts of extreme weather. The agency said that in the past, weather disasters similar to Mocha had caused “death tolls of tens and even hundreds of thousands” in both Myanmar and Bangladesh.

WMO also reported that over the past 50 years, Asia saw the highest death toll due to extreme weather, climate and water-related events, with close to one million deaths – more than half in Bangladesh alone.

This marked the seventh time that Europe’s largest nuclear power plant had been completely disconnected from the national electricity grid since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion 15 months ago, the agency said, noting that the facility was forced to run on emergency diesel generators once again. 

The plant’s only remaining external 750 kilovolt power line had been cut around 5:30am, local time, and re-connected after more than five hours, according to IAEA experts located at the facility. 

‘We’re playing with fire’ 

Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation demonstrated “the highly vulnerable nuclear safety and security situation” at the plant, which has come under shelling during the conflict. 

“As I’ve said repeatedly, this simply can’t go on. We’re playing with fire. We must act now to avoid the very real danger of a nuclear accident in Europe, with its associated consequences for the public and the environment.” 

The ZNPP was occupied by Russian forces in the early days of the war and is still being operated by Ukrainian personnel.

Most staff live in the nearby town of Enerhodar. On Friday, the IAEA reported that a location close to the town came under artillery fire earlier that day. 

Intense negotiations continue 

Mr. Grossi said he continues to engage in intense negotiations with all parties to secure the protection of the nuclear plant, stressing that “I will not stop until this has been achieved.” 

He explained that the ZNPP does not have any operational back-up power lines since the last one functioning had been damaged in March, which has still not been repaired. 

“For more than two and a half months, this major nuclear power plant has only had one functioning external power line. This is an unprecedented and uniquely risky situation. Defence-in-depth – which is fundamental to nuclear safety – has been severely undermined at the ZNPP,” he said. 

Still awaiting access 

He called for greater efforts to restore the back-up power lines, while also reiterating the need for the IAEA team on site to gain access to the Zaporizhzhya Thermal Power Plant (ZTPP), located nearby. 

The ZTPP has an open switchyard through which back-up power has been provided to the nuclear plant in the past. Access has yet to be granted despite reassurances by the Russian state nuclear company, Rosatom. 

Following the off-site power cut on Monday, all the nuclear plant’s 20 diesel generators started operating. However, 12 were later switched off, leaving eight running, which is sufficient to operate all systems safely.  

The IAEA said its experts at the site were informed that there is enough diesel fuel for 23 days, adding that after the 750 kilovolt line was restored, the diesel generators were gradually turned off. 

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was delivering his report to the 76th World Health Assembly, the UN agency’s decision-making body, which is meeting this week. 

Threat still remains 

“The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat,” Tedros told Member States. 

“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.” 

Furthermore, in the face of overlapping and converging crises, “pandemics are far from the only threat we face”, he added, underscoring the need for effective global mechanisms that address and respond to emergencies of all kinds. 

“When the next pandemic comes knocking – and it will – we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably,” he advised.  

Health targets impacted 

Tedros said COVID-19 had significant implications for health-related targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030. 

The pandemic also affected progress towards the Triple Billion targets, announced at the 2017 World Health Assembly. 

The five-year initiative calls for ensuring one billion more people have universal health coverage, a billion more are better protected from health emergencies, and another billion more enjoy better health and wellbeing. 

Action on SDGs  

Tedros reported that countries have made progress on universal health coverage, with some 477 million people now benefitting. However, he warned that if current trends continue, fewer than half the world’s people will be covered by the end of the decade, “meaning we must at least double the pace”. 

 COVID-19 also showed that eight billion people – basically everyone on the planet – need to be better protected in emergencies. 

“The pandemic has blown us off course, but it has shown us why the SDGs must remain our north star, and why we must pursue them with the same urgency and determination with which we countered the pandemic,” he said. 

Promoting health, preventing disease 

Tedros also highlighted several achievements that have been made over the past year in what he called the “five Ps”: promoting, providing, protecting, powering, and performing for health. 

Countries have taken action to promote health by preventing disease and addressing their root causes, for example.  Between 2017 and 2022, 133 governments increased or introduced a new tax on products that harm health, such as tobacco and sugary drinks. 

“We also see encouraging progress in eliminating industrially-produced trans-fat from the global food supply,” he said. “Many countries have also made impressive progress in reducing salt intake, a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease.” 

Stamp out polio 

On protection, Tedros noted that with the end of COVID-19 and mpox as global public health emergencies, only polio now remains.  

Following an all-time low of five wild poliovirus cases in 2021, numbers increased last year, with 20 cases in Pakistan, two in Afghanistan, and eight in Mozambique. 

He stressed that WHO and partners “remain steadfastly committed to finishing the job of consigning polio to history”. 

New pandemic accord 

Tedros concluded his remarks by urging countries to “pick up the pace of progress” on the Triple Billion and health-related SDG targets. 

He called for urgent and constructive negotiations on the new global pandemic accord and the International Health Regulations (IHR), the treaty that governs preparedness and response to health emergencies, “so the world will never again have to face the devastation of a pandemic like COVID-19”. 

He also asked countries to support a 20 per cent increase in their contributions to support the work of WHO. 

“On the International Day for Biological Diversity, we reflect on our relationship with humanity’s life-support system, from the air we breathe and the food we eat, to the energy that fuels us and the medicines that heal us, our lives are wholly dependent on healthy ecosystems,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.

“Yet, our actions are devastating every corner of the planet: 1 million species are at risk of extinction, the result of habitat degradation, skyrocketing pollution, and the worsening climate crisis.”

While there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to future generations, the number of species is being significantly reduced by certain human activities from illegal logging to poaching wildlife.

Loss ‘threatens all’

Biological diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms, but it also includes genetic differences within each species.

In a delicate balance, biodiversity reflects differences between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock as well as the variety of such ecosystems as lakes, forests, deserts, and agricultural landscapes, that host myriad interactions among their human, plant, and animal guests.

But, the loss of biodiversity threatens all, including health. It has been proven that biodiversity loss could expand zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Keeping biodiversity intact offers excellent tools to fight against pandemics like those caused by coronaviruses.

Promises made must be kept

A total of 196 nations have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is the international legal instrument for “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”.

Marking an important step forward, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, saw all parties committing to setting national targets to implement it. At the forthcoming Conference of the Parties in 2024 in Türkiye, the world will take stock of the targets and commitments that have been set.

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners launched an online platform for non-governmental groups’ commitments from around the world, from a rain forest protection project in Côte d’Ivoire to a marine conservation effort in Cambodia. To date, 212 commitments have been pledged.

Turning agreements into action

“Our actions are devastating every corner of the planet: 1 million species are at risk of extinction, the result of habitat degradation, skyrocketing pollution, and the worsening climate crisis.” – UN Secretary-General António Guterres

“Now is the time to move from agreement to action,” Mr. Guterres said.

That translates into ensuring sustainable production and consumption patterns and redirecting subsidies from nature-destroying activities towards green solutions.

It also means recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, the strongest guardians of the world’s biodiversity, and pushing governments and businesses to take stronger and faster action against biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, the UN chief said.

“Let us work together across governments, civil society, and the private sector to secure a sustainable future for all,” he said.

Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the environment here.