WHO concerned of water-borne disease outbreak after dam collapse in Ukraine triggers floods

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

GENEVA (AA) – Potential outbreak of water-borne diseases was the "primary concern" of the World Health Organization after the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine, the country head of the global health body said on Tuesday.

"There had so far been no reports of such outbreaks, but WHO is prepared to respond to disease outbreaks," Jarno Habicht, WHO representative in Ukraine, told a UN briefing in Geneva which he participated virtually from Istanbul.

Habicht said the WHO team is on the ground and monitoring the situation while trying to raise awareness in the community about water-borne diseases.

"This devastating attack had ruptured the mental health of many. Mental health was an emergency within the emergency," he said, adding that there are more than 10 million people with mental health needs in Ukraine and the WHO had trained tens of thousands of mental health workers to deliver support on the ground.

The UN health body has delivered supplies to 15,000 people so far, he said. "More will be delivered in the coming days."

About the need for new pipelines to deliver drinking water to neighboring regions, Habicht mentioned that the Ukrainian government had allocated additional funding to ensure that drinking water would be available, while drones are distributing water to flooded houses.

"Making drinking water available would be a priority for WHO and the Ukrainian government over the coming months," he stressed.

Warning of possible mine casualties, the WHO official said: "The level of water had risen, but it would go down in the next few days, which would pose a heightened risk of mine casualties in the region.

"Information on the location of mines needed to be collected as soon as possible," he urged and said that several high-level contingency meetings would be held in the coming days.

The WHO has not yet registered casualties from mines submerged in the water, he added.

Additionally, the representative said that the WHO could not receive security guarantees to access Russia-controlled territories through the UN system yet.

- UN rights office 'deeply troubled' by human rights developments in Senegal

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is "deeply troubled" by human rights developments in Senegal in recent weeks, the department's spokesperson told the briefing.

During the three-day protests which erupted in June after opposition leader Ousmane Sonko was sentenced to two years in prison, at least 16 people were killed, 350 were injured and more than 500 were arrested, Seif Magango said.

"The use of firearms by security forces during protests set a negative precedent for Senegal," Magango said.

He added: "Authorities had launched investigations, and OHCHR called on them to ensure that the investigations into this use of force were prompt, independent and thorough, and to bring anyone found to be responsible for unnecessary or disproportionate force to account regardless of their status and political affiliation."

- Delivering health supplies to Sudan has 'no use' unless they reach health facilities

WHO spokeswoman Carla Drysdale, who recalled that the public health emergency is grade three – the highest level of emergency grade – in Sudan, stressed that delivering emergency health supplies to support civilians has "no use unless these supplies could be delivered to public health facilities."

Drysdale said 18.1 million people have been targeted for humanitarian aid in the conflict-hit North African country.

While 4 million breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished, some 3.7 million people have already internally displaced by the conflict, and another close to 480,000 have crossed the border, she said.

The conflict between the Sudanese army and Rapid Support Forces has resulted in the loss of nearly 1,000 lives and left thousands injured since April 15, according to reports from medics on the ground.

Recent clashes have been marked by repeated violations of previous cease-fire agreements, with both sides blaming each other for the breaches.