WHO continues to benefit from its sustained relationship with the European Commission to ensure that the most vulnerable people in Iraq have access to health care services
8 November 2017, Baghdad, Iraq – The World Health Organization (WHO) has received an additional seven million Euros from the European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) to support emergency trauma care and essential life-saving health care for people affected by conflict in Iraq.
The funds will be used by WHO to provide emergency health care for tens of thousands of people in Mosul, Telafar, Hawija, Anbar and other locations. ECHO’s support will help improve access to first-line emergency health care and referral services for communities, and ensure timely response to potential disease outbreaks. It will also help improve data collection, analysis and dissemination aimed at improving the quality and timeliness of WHO’s and other medical humanitarian partners’ health services and activities at field level.
“This support demonstrates the strong partnership between the European Commission and WHO with a shared goal of delivering quality health services to all vulnerable communities in Iraq,” said Altaf Musani, WHO Country Representative in Iraq.
“In such critical times, where health infrastructures and services in Mosul and other parts of Iraq have been either destroyed or severely curtailed, these funds will enable WHO to work closely with health authorities, national and international partners to step up front line services, bring back to life health structures in newly retaken areas and provide basic health services in displacement camps,” Musani added.
“The conflict in Iraq continues to strike thousands of Iraqis. Bringing back the basic services able to help them recover from their wounds, from the trauma they experienced, is a priority for ECHO. Helping Iraq’s health system recover and cater for the health needs of those most vulnerable cannot wait,” said Javier Rio Navarro, head of the ECHO office in Iraq.
Related link
European Commission Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)
For more information, please contact:
Pauline Ajello
Communications Officer
ajellopa@who.int
+964 7510101460
Ajyal Sultany
Communications Officer
sultanya@who.int
+964 7510101469