Healthcare system in Ukraine collapsing
Ongoing conflict and under-equipped stocks of medicines and vaccines have led to a major crisis in eastern Ukraine.
This makes people more vulnerable to illnesses such as polio, measles and tuberculosis, the World Health Organisation warns.
In all, 5.1 million people are affected by the humanitarian crisis, including 1.4 million deemed highly vulnerable, the United Nations health agency said in a statement.
“We have special concerns for children, infants, and the lack of vaccines. Ukraine in the past month had no vaccines in the country, we are warning,” Dr. Dorit Nitzan, WHO Representative in Ukraine, told a news briefing in Geneva.
There is a “huge risk of vaccine-preventable diseases” she said. “Measles and polio are first on the list.”
Nitzan said that as of Jan. 6, the death toll from the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists stood at 4,808, with 10,468 wounded, based on reports from morgues and hospitals.
Category: Features, Health alert