HEADLINES

Ukraine Health Cluster partners delivering essential health services to the most vulnerable

29 March 2022 – After one month from the start of the conflict, the overall situation continues to deteriorate across Ukraine. To date, over 18 million people have been affected. According to the latest government data compiled by UNHCR, over three million refugees have now left Ukraine for surrounding countries, with over 60% of them in Poland.

The Health Cluster continues to scale up operations to address the health needs of 6 million most vulnerable people targeted for health assistance, by coordinating the work of 86 international and national partners, of which 58 are currently operational on the ground and 24 are planning to be operational.

Strategic Advisory Group Update

Global Health Cluster partners and Health Cluster Coordinators can access the Strategic Advisory Group Update for January-March 2022, including Task Team progress reports and planned actions.

Access SAG Q1 Update here >>

Health Cluster/Sector dashboard as of March 2022

The Health Cluster Dashboard reflects data as of March 2022. The 32 Health Clusters/Sectors are targeting 97.6 million people with $ 3.2 billion in funding requested.

Access dashboard here >>

HEALTH CLUSTER IN ACTION

Medical Teams International: addressing the health needs of migrants in Colombia

28 March 2022 – Medical Teams began operating in Colombia in 2019 with Venezuelan migrants in Santa Marta, Magdalena Department. In 2020 Medical Teams became a partner of the Colombia Health Cluster.

Colombia hosts the largest population of Venezuelans, with an estimated 2.45 million Venezuelan migrants and 980,000 Colombian returnees with dual citizenship. Medical Teams' humanitarian response in Colombia focuses primarily on the health needs of vulnerable Colombians and Venezuelan migrants.

Read the Partner Profile

Madagascar Health Cluster activated to respond to increasing hazards related to climate change

22 March 2022 - Madagascar is one of the ten most disaster-prone countries in the world and faces increasing hazards related to climate change. The recently activated Health Cluster, led by the World Health Organization, is responding to the health needs of both the Eastern Region struggling with cyclones and the Great South region suffering from severe drought. For the period from January 2021 to May 2022, it was estimated that 1.59 million people will require humanitarian assistance, including just over 700,000 people for the Health Sector with a US$ 2.6 million required funding for health response.

OTHER COLLABORATIONS

Standby Partners supporting the Health Cluster

4 April 2022 – During emergencies, where humanitarian needs escalate rapidly, Standby Partners are essential to quickly strengthen WHO capacity to respond as Cluster Lead Agency. Standby partnership agreements between WHO and external organizations allow for the no-cost and rapid deployment of experts to WHO Country Offices and Health Clusters in countries facing emergencies.

The Standby Partners that supported the Health Cluster globally in 2021 were: iMMAP (15 deployments), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) (4), CANADEM (3), RedR Australia (2). 24 deployments were arranged by the Standby Partner Mechanism: 16 (67%) supported information management capacity while the remaining 8 (33%) supported coordination of health clusters at subnational and national levels.