Seven international WHO staff will re-establish
support for activities in the 3 Northern Governorates, entering from Larnaca
to Erbil, as soon as instructed by HCI. Teams are assembled in Amman (6
people) and Kuwait (6 by 16 April); additional teams are on standby in
Iran and Syria.
From each of these locations, WHO will
proceed along with its sister agencies to reestablish international presence
in Iraq. All along this progress, WHO will seek every opportunity to a)
assess and gain intelligence on health needs and capacities inside Iraq,
to b) establish working alliances with NGOs that may be able to re-enter
Iraq ahead of UN international staff and to c) send supplies cross-border
where there is a clearly identified need, reasonable assurances of security
for the goods in-transit and an identified, appropriate recipient that
can use them for the immediate relief of the local population and the recovery
of local health systems.
In both Kuwait and Amman a small task force will tighten coordination between humanitarian health partners and the Coalition in order to rapidly gain safe access to provide and promote assistance to health professionals and institutions including urgent restoration of secure working environment, electricity and water supplies.
Strengthening, or re-establishing contacts inside Iraq with the WHO national staff who have continued working throughout the worst of the crisis will be given high priority so to facilitate action.
Meanwhile, from Larnaca, WHO will continues to advocate for sectoral priorities, assist sectoral infomation management, seek resources for unmet health needs and, in general, to service health sector coordination in close proximity to the Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq.
Resource materials collected by the Health Information Group for Iraq are available in the HIC website http://www.agoodplacetostart.org/sec_health_rm.php. Current contents include: overview of health indicators for Iraq, mapping of health facilities; update on health supplies prepositioned in the region by health partners. Forms for Rapid Health Assessment are also available on-line