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Health Emergencies Newsletter
Issue No.35: 25.01.2024
TOP STORY
Statement by Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe:
A new study led by WHO/Europe has found that at least 1.4 million lives in the WHO European region were saved thanks to safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. Without them, the European Region’s cumulative known death toll could have been around 4 million, possibly even higher. Analysis of 34 countries also found that more than 90% of lives saved were people over the age of 60. Overall, COVID-19 vaccines reduced death by 57% across the WHO European Region, between December 2020, when the vaccine rollouts began, and March 2023. The first booster doses alone saved an estimated 700 000 lives.
WHO’s recommendation is for persons at highest risk from COVID-19 to continue to be re-vaccinated 6 to 12 months after their most recent dose. This includes the elderly, pregnant women, the immunocompromised and those with significant chronic medical conditions, and frontline health workers.
A 5-day study visit of Ukrainian mental health workers and experts to Italy, organized by WHO and its Collaborating Centre for Research and Training in Mental Health at Giuliano Isontina University Health Authority (ASU GI) in Trieste, aimed to help develop mental health services in the war-torn country.
During the visit to the north-eastern region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the Ukrainian participants learned about a network of community-based mental health services in Trieste within the health system and beyond. There, mental health services are integrated into general health care, community mental health centres, multidisciplinary health teams, non-health settings and key social services.
Nurses play a key role in the delivery of essential medical services in Ukraine, often serving as the first point of contact for patients with the health-care system and ensuring that no one is left behind. In Ukraine, WHO has established regional roundtables to gain input directly from nurses, while monthly workshops were set up in tandem to increase training opportunities.
As the full-scale war in Ukraine approaches the two-year mark, the WHO Regional Office for Europe and the Ministry of Health of Ukraine have signed a Biennial Collaborative Agreement (BCA) for 2024–2025, setting out health priorities with which WHO will support Ukraine, as the country’s health system works to expand its ability to provide health for all, surmounting formidable challenges.
WHO has donated 20 ambulances to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to enable the provision of emergency medical care to patients during the war. Designed as mobile intensive care units, the ambulances will be used to provide the necessary care for patients who need extra life-supporting activities during transportation to hospitals and between hospitals. This is the latest such donation by WHO in nearly 2 years of full-scale war.
“With the devastating impact of war on Ukraine’s health system, these 20 ambulances will enable interhospital medical transportation across Ukraine, including the country’s eastern and southern regions, equipped to provide intensive and highly specialized care to seriously injured patients,” said Dr Gundo Weiler, Director of the Division of Country Support and Partnerships and acting Regional Emergency Director at the WHO Regional Office for Europe.
The WHO Country Office in Ukraine, in collaboration with WHO/Europe, WHO headquarters, and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recently conducted a pilot workshop on early warning, alert and response (EWAR) in emergencies. This marked a significant milestone for Ukraine, particularly in the context of ongoing wartime challenges.
The workshop aimed to bolster Ukraine's ability to swiftly identify and respond to public health threats with a comprehensive all-hazards approach. This strategic focus is expected to minimize losses and safeguard lives and health during emergencies by helping Ukrainian public health practitioners to guide related decision-making.
COVID-19 AND RESPIRATORY VIRUSES
Seasonal cold weather has set in across the WHO European Region, leading to circulation of respiratory pathogens and more people becoming sick. Many of these pathogens affect young children, especially those under 5 years, alongside other at-risk groups, such as people with comorbidities and people aged over 65 years. However, continuing successful prevention strategies can reduce the likelihood of most at-risk groups falling ill this winter.
According to the European Respiratory Virus Surveillance Summary, in mid-December approximately half of the countries in the Region were experiencing higher levels of fever and cough, and some countries reported a sharp increase, including among young children.
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the United Kingdom (UK) in lockdown, staff from the costume department of the London-based English National Opera (ENO) threw themselves into making scrubs for medical workers. Sparked by this contact with hospitals, an apparently unlikely collaboration began. It saw the ENO’s vocal leaders working with lung specialists at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust to develop a remarkable series of online workshops aimed at people with long COVID experiencing breathlessness and the associated anxiety.
The programme is called ENO Breathe, and from small beginnings, it has grown into a nationwide programme that now takes referrals from 88 National Health Service (NHS) clinics, providing an online programme of medically grounded exercises that have already offered rehabilitation and relief to over 3000 participants. ENO Breathe has also inspired other initiatives across the European Region.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
Blending creativity and public health promotion, a puppet show, “Mister Stethoscope”, is captivating young audiences in Albania, aiming to strengthen community acceptance of vaccines and address misinformation. Conceived by the WHO Country Office in Albania and supported financially by the European Union, this innovative initiative caters to children, utilizing puppetry as a powerful medium to convey the importance of vaccines and vaccination for every individual and overall public health.
Crafted by a talented artistic crew from the National Puppet Theatre of Albania, Mister Stethoscope features vaccine puppets, bringing to life essential vaccines, including against measles, mumps and rubella, human papillomavirus and others. The show emphasizes the pivotal role vaccines play in preventing infectious diseases and helps promote accurate information about vaccination. Through music and play, young audiences and their guardians receive important messages for their health and their future.
A new digital solution was tested for the first time by participants in a 4-day training in Istanbul. The virtual reality tool will contribute to further improvement of public health capacities at ports and on ships.
The COVID-19 pandemic had an unprecedented impact on the maritime sector, proving the vital importance of maintaining public health capacity at ports and on ships. Due to international travel restrictions, including port closures, access to ports that inspected ships and issued ship sanitation certificates was severely limited. As ports have resumed their activities, the need for trained port health officers has been identified as a priority for the many countries that have lost this capacity, either through attrition or inspection inactivity.
The vital importance of risk communication, community engagement and infodemic management (RCCE-IM) in emergency response and the need to build capacity in the science to deal with future crises was the focus of a milestone forum in Denmark on 5–7 December 2023.
The forum included the presentation of 2 new tools to enhance RCCE-IM: first, a capability mapping tool which allows for self-assessment among key stakeholders to better understand their existing skills to respond to emergencies; second, an RCCE-IM plan creator which teaches users, through a course of 10 modules, how to create emergency plans.
