Thread by @WHO

LIVE with @DrTedros at the High-level Ministerial Meeting on the Humanitarian Situation in #Afghanistan 👇
media.un.org/en/webtv #InvestInHumanity

@DrTedros "Access to essential health services for millions of people in #Afghanistan – especially women and girls – is likely to reduce sharply because of a pause in donor funding to the country’s largest health project, Sehatmandi"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "This project is the backbone of #Afghanistan’s health system, supporting more than 2,300 health facilities. This pause in funding could result in a worst-case scenario of more than 90% of these clinics and hospitals shutting their doors"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1437434542248374279?s=20

@DrTedros "Health facilities have already closed and several NGOs have scaled down their operations"-@DrTedros #Afghanistan

@DrTedros "This will likely lead to serious reductions in services, threatening the gains we've made in maternal & child mortality over the past 20 years, causing disruption to #COVID19 vaccinations & jeopardising the progress to #EndPolio in #Afghanistan"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1437434803847053313?s=20

@DrTedros "Last year, #Afghanistan recorded 56 cases of wild poliovirus. So far this year there has been only one. These gains are under threat"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1437435198740832257?s=20

@DrTedros "WHO & our partners have identified 538 priority clinics & hospitals for immediate support under the Sehatmandi project. We are requesting $66M to support these facilities & deliver essential health services for 3.4 million people until the end of the year"-@DrTedros #Afghanistan

@DrTedros "We ask that a decision soon be made about the future 💰 & implementation of Sehatmandi, so that any disruption to essential health services is minimised. WHO is willing to play a substantial long-term role, in collaboration with @UNICEF & other agencies"-@DrTedros #Afghanistan

@DrTedros @UNICEF "We ask the @UN and our international partners to continue exploring options for sustaining and expediting a humanitarian air bridge and road transportation option"-@DrTedros #Afghanistan

@DrTedros @UNICEF @UN "WHO was the first agency to airlift essential medicines and supplies into #Afghanistan, through Mazar-i-Sharif airport"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @UNICEF @UN "With the help of the governments of #Qatar and #Pakistan, as well as the @WFP, we will have delivered around 140 metric tonnes by this Wednesday. But we need a reliable supply chain for essential medicines and supplies to be established urgently"-@DrTedros #Afghanistan

@DrTedros @UNICEF @UN @WFP "I thank the women and men of WHO’s national and international staff who continue to work every day to protect and promote the health of all #Afghanistan’s people"-@DrTedros