WHO / EMERGENCY APPEAL LAUNCH

STORY: WHO / EMERGENCY APPEAL LAUNCH
TRT:
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

SHOTLIST:

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, press briefing room
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
“I would wish you a happy New Year. But for the record number of people around the world, 339 million, it's not a Happy New Year. Instead of hope, the New Year brings fear, fear of disease, fear of starvation, fear of conflict, fear of climate related disasters that are driving people from their homes. As we enter 2023, we're witnessing an unprecedented convergence of crisis that demands an unprecedented response.”
3. Wide shot, press briefing room
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
“The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost 25 per cent compared with last year. The world faces multiple overlapping crises, and the most vulnerable are being hit the hardest. 80 per cent of humanitarian needs globally are driven by conflict and around half of preventable maternal and child does occur in fragile conflict affected and vulnerable settings.”
5. Wide shot, press briefing room
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
“The world cannot look away and hope these crises resolve themselves. That's why we're calling on our donors around the world to support WHO's Health Emergency Appeal for 2.54 billion US Dollars. These funds will support WHO's work around the world, responding to the urgent needs of the most vulnerable people in 54 ongoing emergencies.”
7. Wide shot, press briefing room
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General:
“Health workers in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Ukraine, Yemen and elsewhere rely on our support. We can only address these urgent needs by working together or by working together to help communities. We need to help them rebuild stronger, more resilient health systems. We need to support equitable access to medicines, vaccines and other essential health products. And we need to forge the path towards a healthier, safer and more sustainable world.”

FILE – WHO – Kenya, NOVEMBER 2022

9. Various shots, people and animals gathering at a water source to collect/consume water.

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

10. SOUNDBITE (English) Gordon Brown, WHO Ambassador, Global Health Financing and former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2007-2010:
“Hope dies when pharmacy shelves that should be stocked with drugs and treatments are bare. When doctors and nurses don't have the tools. Hope dies, when they need to provide the most basic of care and cannot do so, and when vaccines that could save lives are hoarded in the rich north only to be destroyed as they pass the use by date. But hope comes alive if we can fund the medicines, provide the doctors, equip the health workers, avoid preventable deaths and suffering. So today I call on the governments listening to this conference today to fund this emergency appeal and support the WHO, that has both the solutions and the means to deliver health to the most vulnerable. And in doing so, give hope a shot, inject optimism, inoculate us against more avoidable deaths. And let's remind ourselves that we are richer when we care for the poor, and we are more secure when we care for all those who today are insecure.”

FILE – WHO – 23 JUNE 2022, AL HASSAKEH, NORTHEAST SYRIA

11. Various shots at healthcare facility treating children.


23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND


12. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Nagham Hasan, gynecologist in Iraq, and regional winner of the
Nansen award for the Middle East and North Africa:
“I thank you all for support, support you have already given. But I also make a plea to continue to support health so that doctors and nurses and all all many other health care professionals can carry out their duties in the best possible conditions and help the vulnerable people in need in Iraq and elsewhere. Thank you for your support and continued commitment.”

13. Wide shot, press briefing room

14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“People living in crisis are not to be pitied, people living in crisis or not to be looked down upon for their lack of capacity to get out of the crisis. People living in crisis have shown again and again how resilient they are, how innovative they are, and just how resilient they are. What they deserve is our respect. What they deserve as our support and what they deserve as our investment. We cannot do that without our partners at global, regional and local level.”

FILE – WHO – 26 APRIL 2022, RIVNE OBLAST, UKRAINE

15. Various shots, healthcare worker assessing a young patient and vaccinating a baby.

23 JANUARY 2023, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“We need the $2.54 billion in order to support people in over 50 countries where we've got the most acute health and humanitarian needs. We need to be able to support doctors, nurses, frontline health workers, vaccinators, all kinds of different health programs in many of these countries to require our assistance, both technically, operationally and logistically. WHO's present in over 150 countries. Most importantly, we are present in every single large scale emergency in the world right now. We have people on the ground. Over 80 per cent of our staff are not in headquarters in Geneva. They're out there in the regions, in the countries providing that assistance. So we need the funding to be able to go do the jobs we're trained to do to help those countries, to help those people on the frontline.”

17. Wide shot, press briefing room
18. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“In some areas, we face overwhelming challenges. But it's not my view that we should we should be defeatist. We speak about hope dying when so much of health care is not available. We also need to speak about how we can bring hope to communities. We can't despair. There's much we can do. And what's most important is these communities are deeply resilient. These communities have huge capabilities and capacities within themselves. We need to go and bring the assistance, bring the money, bring the supplies, bring the training, bring the hope to these communities. And I believe we can overcome those challenges.”
19. Wide shot, press briefing room
20. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“WHO responds to a large number of emergencies of different types. We respond, and very often many different types of disasters lead to a health emergency. Famine leads to a nutrition crisis, leads to a health crisis. War and conflict lead to displacement, they lead to the lead to trauma, they lead to the destruction of health facilities. And therefore, we people lose access to health care and become sick. We respond to epidemic emergencies, which many people may think is what WHO does more than anything in which the pathogens cause major disruption in communities. So we respond to climate related disasters, droughts, floods, cholera and many other things.”


FILE – WHO – 09 SEPTEMBER 2022, MADYA, PAKISTAN


21. Various shots, WHO working in the field

FILE – WHO – 08 MAY 2022, KYIV, UKRAINE

22. Various shots, WHO working in the field

FILE – WHO – 18 JANUARY 2021, HARGEISA, SOMALILAND

24. Various shots, WHO working in the field

FILE – WHO – JUNE 2019, BENI, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

25. Various shots, WHO working in the field

STORYLINE:

WHO is launching its 2023 health emergency appeal today for US$ 2.54 billion to provide assistance to millions of people around the world facing health emergencies. The number of people in need of humanitarian relief has increased by almost a quarter compared to 2022, to a record 339 million.

Currently, WHO is responding to an unprecedented number of intersecting health emergencies: climate change-related disasters such as flooding in Pakistan and food insecurity across the Sahel and in the greater Horn of Africa; the war in Ukraine; and the health impact of conflict in Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and northern Ethiopia – all of these emergencies overlapping with the health system disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and outbreaks of measles, cholera, and other killers.

“This unprecedented convergence of crises demands an unprecedented response,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “More people than ever before face the imminent risk of disease and starvation and need help now. The world cannot look away and hope these crises resolve themselves. I urge donors to be generous and help WHO to save lives, prevent the spread of disease within and across borders, and support communities as they rebuild."

WHO is currently responding to 54 health crises around the world, 11 of which are classified as Grade 3, WHO’s highest level of emergency, requiring a response at all three levels of the organization. As it is often the case, the most vulnerable are the worst hit.

In 2022, WHO provided medicines, other supplies, training for doctors and other health workers, vaccines, enhanced disease surveillance, mobile clinics, mental health support, maternal health consultations and much more. WHO delivers cost-effective, high-impact responses that protect health, lives and livelihoods. Every US$ 1 invested in WHO generates at least US$ 35 in return on investment*.

WHO responds to health emergencies in close collaboration with Member States, other UN agencies, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations and other partners in the communities and across countries and regions.