WHO Waits For Final Approval To Send Humanitarian Assistance To Syrian Regions Powered By Rebels

JAKARTA - The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was awaiting final approval to send cross-line shipments to northwestern Syria, where insurgent groups control the region and hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid to Turkish earthquake victims in Syria.

WHO hopes that the Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will soon be able to travel to areas controlled by rebels affected by the devastating earthquake, the organization said Sunday.

Dr. Tedros and a team of top WHO officials arrived in Aleppo on Saturday on humanitarian relief flights, carrying trauma and surgical emergency equipment worth more than $290,000.

Rick back, WHO's regional emergency director, told a news briefing from Damascus Sunday that "no cross-border shipments" to northwestern Syria since the 7.8-SR earthquake hit Monday last week.

"We have one schedule in the next few days. We are still negotiating to continue it," mikha said, adding that prior to the earthquake, WHO "planned a significant expansion of cross-border work," according to CNN on February 13.

According toLAD, WHO received approval from the Syrian government in Damascus, but is awaiting "approval... from entities on the other hand."

"We are working very, very hard to negotiate that access,"

I've seen first-hand the unbearable toll the earthquake has taken on people in #Syria. @WHO teams are working in affected areas and aiming to further scale up across the country, including in the northwest. But much more help is needed. https://t.co/TYLMqD63XY pic.twitter.com/XrdFlEVsKW

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) February 12, 2023

On Sunday, UN Emergency Assistance Coordinator Martin Griffiths wrote on Twitter, "trucks with the help of the United Nations sliding into northwestern Syria," uploading images of trucks being loaded for cross-border shipments.

The head of the UN aid stressed the need to "open more access points" to get help more quickly.

Meanwhile, WHO officials reiterated that before the earthquake, only 51 percent of the government-controlled medical facilities in Syria were fully functioning, with a partial capacity of around 25 percent to 30 percent.

It said, although WHO did not have access to the same level of data in terms of medical care in the northwest, they expected a "like figure" as far as capacity was concerned.

"I think this is one of the cases where 10 years of war, or 10 years of instability, has just destroyed the health system to a point where it cannot provide it adequately," said WHO Emergency Director Mike Ryan.

"It's not just physical damage to the infrastructure itself, but also the loss of salaries, the loss of training," Ryan said.