YouSaid · the spoken record

Hoff

lines on the record
13
first
2016-11-21
most recent
2016-11-21
sittings or episodes
1
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un-security-council

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  1. “We ask the Council to support sustained, unconditional access to all besieged and hard-to-reach areas. We ask the Council to help allow us to evacuate critically ill and wounded patients and their families from all areas and to ensure their safe passage. I would like to reiterate that the WHO priority remains the people of Syria. As a humanitarian agency, we will continue our work to help to ensure that all people in all parts ofthe country have access to essential life-saving health care. We extend our deepest thanks to the donors that have so generously and steadfastly funded our operations in Syria during the past five years. We stand ready to give a more formal, in-depth briefing on those issues should the Council so desire. Let me end by thanking you, Mr.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  2. “Lastly, WHO has used its position as the lead agency of the health sector to consistently advocate for the sanctity of health care and for sustained access to all parts of Syria to ensure that people are able to access the health care they need. However, the situation is getting worse. WHO appeals to all members of the Security Council to use every last ounce of their influence to bring an immediate end to the suffering in Syria. We ask the Council to approve the establishment of a system to ensure that all parties have the coordinates of all humanitarian convoys and health facilities, and that all attacks are registered. We ask it to help end the attacks on health-care facilities and their personnel, regardless of the attackers' affiliation.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  3. “As a result, around 150,000 people were deprived of essential health care. WHO has established a nationwide disease surveillance system to detect and respond to outbreak alerts. Fortunately, no major disease outbreaks have occurred in Syria. The Organization has trained over 16,000 health-care workers to help fill the gap left by the mass exodus ofhealth professionals. WHO and UNICEF have supported the vaccination of millions of children against polio, measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. We have done all this with the sustained support of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and our national non-governmental organization partners.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  4. “Thus far in 2016, WHO has provided over 9 million medical treatments throughout Syria, through both cross-line deliveries from Damascus and cross-border deliveries from Gaziantep and Amman. Over one third of those supplies were delivered to hard-to-reach and besieged areas. For the first time in several years, WHO, along with its United Nations partners and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was able to reach all besieged areas as part of United Nations inter-agency convoys. However, WHO is not able to reach those areas on a regular basis due to the lack of approval of several parties to the conflict. The Government withheld approval for the delivery of 75 tons of medical supplies - mainly to support surgical, anaesthesiology, laboratory and mental health services - to those areas.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  5. “All eight of its hospitals have either been put out of action or are only barely functioning. Its few remaining doctors are exhausted and overwhelmed. Eastern Aleppo is running out of food, water, and medicine. WHO, along with humanitarian partners, has painstakingly prepared detailed plans to evacuate the critically ill and injured and allow convoys to deliver supplies to eastern Aleppo. The Organization is awaiting the removal of all obstacles that would allow it to implement its plans. Western Aleppo is also under attack by non-State armed groups in eastern Aleppo. Hospitals in western Aleppo have been overwhelmed with wounded patients, following indiscriminate shelling. Scores of children were killed or injured when a mortar landed on a school in western Aleppo last Saturday.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  6. “I would like to highlight other challenges that WHO and its partners face on a daily basis, notably our difficulties accessing hard-to-reach and besieged locations to deliver life-saving medicines and supplies. The Government routinely withholds its approval for the delivery of medical supplies and equipment, particularly surgical supplies, safe blood and blood products, to those locations. Moreover, the operating environment is now so dangerous that many health partners, especially those managing cross-border operations, have limited their activities. Aleppo is the most visible face of Syria's suffering. It illustrates our difficulty in accessing besieged and hard-to-reach locations. Over a quarter of a million people are trapped in eastern Aleppo.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  7. “We all have a sense that there is something very special - even sacred - about providing health care to children, mothers, and the disabled. When health- care facilities providing care to the most vulnerable are targeted, something very precious is lost. We have not only violated a right and a law, we have lost our collective humanity. WHO condemns in the strongest terms attacks on health-care facilities by any party, regardless of their affiliation. We condemn the inappropriate use of health facilities for any military or political purpose. As the global health agency, we take seriously our responsibility to speak out against these abuses whenever we can. We do so regularly. Nonetheless, our repeated calls for protecting health-care facilities and personnel always fall on deaf ears.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  8. “For example, before three hospitals in rural western Aleppo were attacked last week, they provided more than 10,000 consultations and performed 1,500 surgeries per month. First of all, denying ordinary citizens access to health care is an affront to our common humanity. Everyone has the right to health; it is inscribed in many international agreements, including the United Nations Declaration. Secondly, those attacks are an unacceptable violation of international humanitarian law. Even in war, there are rules against such attacks, inscribed in the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. Respect for the neutrality of health facilities is one of our most important humanitarian principles and laws. Thirdly, those attacks also represent something deeper.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  9. “In November alone, 11 hospitals were attacked in Aleppo, Idlib, and Hama governorates, and some were attacked more than once. The direct targeting of health-care facilities is the most visible attack on the health-care system in Syria today, but there are others as well, including the militarization of health care facilities by several parties to the conflict, the targeting of health- care personnel, and the denial of medical and surgical supplies in many areas. Many patients are simply too afraid to travel to hospitals or clinics because they fear attacks, detention or abuse. Attacks on health-care facilities and workers have an enormous impact on the communities they serve.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  10. “It means that unvaccinated children are at risk of life-threatening childhood illnesses such as polio, which re-emerged in Syria in late 2013 before being eradicated anew, thanks to the concerted efforts of WHO and UNICEF. It means that Syrians with traumatic injuries do not receive timely treatment and die or suffer life-changing disabilities. It means that pregnant women do not have access to safe delivery. It means that huge numbers will suffer lifelong mental health problems related to prolonged, traumatic stress and displacement. There have been repeated attacks on health-care facilities in Syria. Between January and September, there were 126 such attacks - almost two thirds of all attacks reported in countries with emergencies.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  11. “Within Syria, 13.5 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance. Almost 5 million people live in besieged or hard-to-reach locations. These numbers are staggering. Health-care services have been devastated. Over half the country's public hospitals and primary health-care centres are either closed or only partially functioning. Almost two-thirds of all health professionals have left the country. Domestic production of medicines has dropped by two thirds and vaccination coveragerates have dropped by half. What does that mean for the Syrian people? It means that they no longer have sustainable and reliable access to medicines for chronic diseases that are manageable with treatment but life-threatening without.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  12. “Before the conflict began, Syria had one of the most advanced health-care systems in the Middle East. As the country reached middle-income status, non-communicable diseases were becoming the predominant health concern. National vaccination coverage rates were 95 per cent. Syria's thriving pharmaceutical industry produced over 90 per cent of the country's medicines and exported its products to 53 countries. Now, almost six years later, the picture is starkly different. According to the United Nations, well over 300,000 people have been killed and over 1.5 millionhave been injured since the conflict began. Each month, the number ofpeople injured in the conflict rises to 30,000. Almost 5 million people have left the country, and just over 6 million have been internally displaced.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source

  13. “Ms. Hoff: I speak to the Council today from the country office of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Damascus, from where I have led WHO'S work in Syria for more than four years. As the conflict and violence continue unabated, I have seen the worst of humankind - but more importantly, I have seen its best. I wish to begin by paying tribute to WHO's staff in Syria for their selflessness and determination and to the health-care workers, health partners and national non- governmental organizations working on the front line, who put their own lives at risk every day when they reach out to Syrians in need. Observing their dedication and the sacrifices they make has been the greatest privilege of my life. It is also a privilege to speak to the Council today to describe the health situation inside Syria and the challenges it presents.”

    2016-11-21 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.7817 (2016) · source