The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has urged the world not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Tigray, saying that even in the midst of the war in Ukraine there is "no place on earth" where people are more at risk than the isolated region in north of Ethiopia.
The war in Tigray is an ongoing civil war that began on November 3, 2020 and is taking place between the local forces of Tigray and the forces of Ethiopia and Eritrea. All sides have committed war crimes and because of the conflict, the country is facing a deep humanitarian crisis.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director general, is from Tigray and has angered the Ethiopian government in the past after accusing it of putting the region under a blockade.
"Yes, I'm from Tigray. "And this crisis affects me, my family and my friends very personally," he told a conference in Geneva. "But as director-general of the WHO, I have a duty to protect and promote health wherever it is under threat and there is no other place on earth where the health of millions of people is more at risk than in Tigray."
Referring to the Russian holiday in Ukraine, he added: "As we continue to call on Russia to make peace in Ukraine, so we must call on Ethiopia and Eritrea to end the blockade, the siege and allow the teams of salvation to supply people and save lives. ”
The UN has not been able to send urgent food supplies to Tigray since mid-December. WHO and field doctors have said that the amount it reaches is not enough to meet the needs of the population.
Staff at Tigray's largest hospital told the Guardian earlier this month that patients were dying due to a lack of medical supplies. Tedros said there was no treatment available for the 46,000 people living with HIV. "The [health] program has been abandoned. "People with tuberculosis, hypertension, diabetes and cancer are also not being treated and may have died," he added.
