The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned of a coming "brutal winter" in Ukraine that could trigger a humanitarian crisis amid relentless Russian strikes that have caused serious damage to the country's civilian and health-care infrastructure.
In a statement on October 14, Hans Kluge, the WHO's director for Europe, reassured Kyiv of the continued support of the UN's health agency, saying that the WHO is in Ukraine "for the long haul."
Kluge warned that winter will make survival even harder for Ukrainians living in the war zone and called for urgent action to repair the growing number of health-care facilities destroyed by Russian attacks.
"The immediate priority: responding urgently to the damage done by the latest attacks on health -- with the current total of WHO-confirmed attacks on health at 620 since the war began in February. We need to scale up our support to the rebuilding process," Kluge said.
"Too many people in Ukraine are living precariously, moving from location to location, living in substandard structures or without access to heating," he warned. "The destruction of houses and lack of access to fuel or electricity due to damaged infrastructure could become a matter of life or death if people are unable to heat their homes."
The WHO official said that more than 800,000 houses have been damaged or destroyed in the country since February, forcing thousands of people to live either in collective centers or in damaged buildings.
Without the protection they need against the harsh cold season, people are at a much higher risk of suffering frostbite, hypothermia, pneumonia, strokes, and heart attacks, Kluge warned.
Collective accommodation also enhanced the risk of spreading respiratory diseases such as the coronavirus, he said.
"Recent economic analyses from the World Bank suggest the war could push 60 percent of the population below the poverty line," Kluge said, calling for "an urgent road map" to expand universal health coverage in the months and years to come.
Kluge emphasized that the WHO is in Ukraine to stay, despite the war conditions, supporting more than 150 health-care partners on Ukrainian territory.
"WHO is in Ukraine for the long haul. The country and its people can count on our partnership and support, today and always," he said.
