WHO ARE YOU | Spotlight on 2022: With recent floods and droughts affecting health in several countries in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO warns that extreme weather will lead to many serious illnesses | News

Cairo, December 7, 2022 – While responding to multiple emergencies simultaneously in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, WHO simultaneously extended its massive support to 5 countries in the Region affected by the crisis. climate change in 2022 – Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

With environmental and climate risks responsible for approximately 23% of the total disease burden in the Region, “The link between climate change, extreme weather events and health is increasingly evident. , including droughts and floods,” said Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, WHO Region. Regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean, said during a recent visit to Sudan. It is one of seven countries in the Greater Horn of Africa – along with Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan and Uganda – affected by severe food insecurity due to drought, a current Climate change has serious health consequences.

In his opening remarks at the 69th Session of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Committee held in Cairo on 10–13 October 2022, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus noted that : “Even as we respond to an emergency in Pakistan, we must remember that unless we tackle the existential threat of climate change, we will respond to emergencies. like this and worse more often.”

Atypical floods hit Afghanistan

Over 33 million people affected and 7 million displaced due to catastrophic floods in Pakistan

In Somalia, famine is lurking due to drought

Sudan – where 40% of the country is flooded

Already one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises, Yemen is not immune to flooding