Children in typhoon-hit Tacloban, Philippines, receive vaccines against measles, polio

26 November 2013 | Tacloban, Philippines - Children in Tacloban - the city hit hardest by Typhoon Haiyan - were today vaccinated against measles and polio in the first phase of a mass campaign by the Government of the Philippines with support from WHO, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and other partners. They also received Vitamin A supplements to help improve their immunity against infections.

30 000 children targeted in first phase

Over 30?000 children are expected to be reached by the campaign which is taking place at fixed sites in evacuation centres and in communities using mobile health teams.

"It is virtually unprecedented that within two-and-a-half weeks of a disaster of this scale, with this level of devastation and these logistical challenges, that a mass vaccination campaign is already rolling out."

Dr Julie Hall, WHO Representative in the Philippines

The vaccination drive in Tacloban is the first phase of a campaign targeting children aged less than 5 years in all the typhoon-affected areas. Fifteen teams (10 foreign and 5 national) including volunteers from the Department of Health, the Philippines Red Cross and other non-governmental organisations, were in locations across Tacloban giving vaccines today. The first to receive them were children in 20 evacuation centres, such as San Jose Elementary School, where more than 300 families currently live in conditions that can heighten the risk of infectious diseases.

"The children of Tacloban need all the protection they can get right now," says Angela Kearney, UNICEF Coordinator for the Emergency Response in Tacloban. "Disease is a silent predator, but we know how to prevent it and we will do everything that we can."

WHO and UNICEF coordinate vaccine supply and establish cold chain

At the Government’s request, UNICEF purchased over US$ 2 million worth of vaccines to replenish in-country stocks now being used for the campaign. In addition, UNICEF and WHO are helping to re-establish the broken cold chain, which is critical in keeping vaccines at the right temperature.

"WHO and UNICEF staff hand-carried supplies from Manila to Tacloban, coordinated teams to give the vaccines and trained them on how to do it under these difficult circumstances. It is virtually unprecedented that within two-and-a-half weeks of a disaster of this scale, with this level of devastation and these logistical challenges, that a mass vaccination campaign is already rolling out," says Dr Julie Hall, WHO Representative in the Philippines.

During the campaign children being immunized are also screened for malnutrition by measuring their mid-upper arm circumference which will indicate if they are undernourished and require referral for treatment.

For further information, please contact:

Nyka Alexander
Communications Officer
WHO, Manila
Telephone: +63 906 493 5097
E-mail: alexandern@wpro.who.int

Gregory Hartl
Coordinator, News and Social Media
WHO, Geneva
Telephone: +41 79 203 6715
E-mail: hartlg@who.int

Zafrin Chowdhury
UNICEF, Tacloban
Telephone: + 63 917 867 8366
E-mail: zchowdhury@unicef.org

Kate Donovan
UNICEF, Tacloban
Telephone: + 1 212 303 7984,
Mobile: + 1 917 3781 2128
E-mail: kdonovan@unicef.org

Denise Shepherd-Johnson
UNICEF, Manila
Telephone: + 63 917 464 7028
E-mail: dshepherdjohnson@unicef.org

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Breastfeeding is life-saving for babies in Philippines typhoon emergency

28 November 2013 | Manila, Philippines - UNICEF and WHO today called on those involved in the response to the Philippines’ Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) disaster to promote and protect breastfeeding to avoid unnecessary illness and deaths of children.

Exclusive breastfeeding in first 6 months vital

The estimated 12 000 babies to be born in the worst-affected areas this month need to be exclusively breastfed, meaning that they get nothing but breast milk, which protects them from potentially deadly infections. Around one third of babies in the area born before the disaster who are less than 6 months old are already exclusively breastfed, and 9 out of 10 were at least partially breastfed before the emergency. The mothers who were doing at least some breastfeeding need to be supported to transition to exclusive breastfeeding.

“The uncontrolled distribution and use of infant formula in emergency situations like this – where there are serious water and sanitation challenges and other disease risks – is extremely dangerous. Supporting breastfeeding is one of the most important things we can do to protect babies in areas of the Philippines hit by the typhoon,” said Dr Julie Hall, WHO Representative in the Philippines.

"Supporting breastfeeding is one of the most important things we can do to protect babies in areas of the Philippines hit by the typhoon."

Dr Julie Hall, WHO Representative in the Philippines

UNICEF and WHO prioritise the protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding as a life-saving measure for babies everywhere, and especially in emergencies.

“With the right support – from a health worker, a counsellor or another mother – a woman who is already doing some breastfeeding can increase her milk production within days just by feeding her baby more frequently,” said Tomoo Hozumi, UNICEF Representative in the Philippines.

Babies under 6 months the most vulnerable in emergency situations

During emergency situations, disease and death rates among babies and children are higher than for any other age group; and the younger the child, the higher the risk, leaving babies under 6 months most vulnerable. Babies who drink formula made with water that is contaminated with germs or given with an unsterile bottle or teat, can become very sick with diarrhoea and die within a matter of hours.

Feeding babies with formula in emergencies must only be considered as a last resort, when other safer options – such as helping non-breastfeeding mothers to reinitiate breastfeeding, finding a wet nurse or pasteurized breast milk from a breast milk bank – have first been fully explored.

Only a relatively small number of infants under 6 months affected by this disaster – estimated to number around 6 600 – are not breastfed at all. These babies should be urgently identified, their feeding situation assessed, and be provided with skilled support and the safest feeding option.

UNICEF and WHO strongly urge all who are involved in funding, planning and implementing the emergency response in the Philippines to avoid unnecessary illness and death by protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding. Community leaders are called upon to monitor and report any donations that may undermine breastfeeding.

For further information, please contact:

Liv Lawe-Davies
Communications Officer
WHO, Manila
Telephone: +63 915 896 6345
E-mail: lawedavieso@who.int

Gregory Hartl
Coordinator, News and Social Media
WHO, Geneva
Telephone: +41 79 203 6715
E-mail: hartlg@who.int

Zafrin Chowdhury
UNICEF, Tacloban
Telephone: + 63 917 867 8366
E-mail: zchowdhury@unicef.org

Kate Donovan
UNICEF, Tacloban
Telephone: + 1 212 303 7984,
Mobile: + 1 917 3781 2128
E-mail: kdonovan@unicef.org

Denise Shepherd-Johnson
UNICEF, Manila
Telephone: + 63 917 464 7028
E-mail: dshepherdjohnson@unicef.org

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Relief arriving in the Philippines, challenges for delivery persist

13 November 2013 | MANILA, Philippines - WHO and partners are getting people and supplies into the Philippines, but reaching those in need remains challenging.

Teams of WHO and other emergency responders have been positioned or are en route to the areas hardest hit by Typhoon Haiyan. Medicines and healthcare supplies have arrived in Cebu and are now waiting to be sent to areas in highest need.

WHO is supporting the Government of the Philippines in coordinating the deployment of international medical teams. To date, nine teams (from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and the United States of America) have confirmed that they are on their way or have arrived in the country. Two are positioned in Tacloban. The teams are self-sufficient – bringing their own hospital tents, supplies to perform surgeries, essential medicines and water, food and fuel.

“We’re working with the government to get the right people, medicines and supplies into the areas that have been hit hardest by the typhoon,” says Dr Julie Hall, WHO’s Representative in the Philippines. “But logistics still remain challenging, with airstrips, ports and roads badly damaged.”

Many people suffered cuts, wounds, and broken bones during the typhoon and others will have sustained injuries in subsequent flooding. People with chronic diseases have been without access to medication. Other vulnerable people such as children and those with disabilities may require medical attention.

With an outpouring of support from the international community, WHO has developed guidance for partners on donations of medicine and healthcare equipment, so that the Philippines receives the appropriate supplies for their emergency response.

For more information or interview requests, please contact:

Nyka Alexander (Manila)
Communications Officer
Telephone: +63 906 493 5097
E-mail: alexandern@wpro.who.int

Christy Feig
Director of Communications
Telephone: +41 79 251 7055
E-mail: feigc@who.int

Gregory Hartl
Coordinator, News and Social Media
Telephone: +41 79 203 6715
E-mail: hartlg@who.int

View the original article here

Patchy aid reaches typhoon survivors as Philippines struggles to rebuild

By Aubrey Belford

TACLOBAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Survivors began rebuilding homes destroyed by one of the world's most powerful typhoons and emergency supplies flowed into ravaged Philippine islands, as the United Nations more than doubled its estimate of people made homeless to nearly two million.

But the aid effort was still patchy, and bodies still lay uncollected as rescuers tried to evacuate stricken communities on Saturday, more than a week after Typhoon Haiyan killed at least 3,633 with tree-snapping winds and tsunami-like waves.

"We are very, very worried about millions of children," U.N. Children's Fund spokesman Marixie Mercado told reporters in Geneva. There are officially 1,179 people missing, according to the national count.

Survivors and officials in Tacloban, which bore the brunt of the storm, have said the death toll could be many thousands just in the city as more bodies are discovered every hour.

After long delays, hundreds of international aid workers set up makeshift hospitals and trucked in supplies on Saturday, while helicopters from a U.S. aircraft carrier ferried medicine and water to remote, battered areas where some families have gone without food and clean water for days.

Aid flown in to Tacloban's congested airport finally trickled into ravaged neighborhoods. Work crews and heavy equipment cleared debris from roadsides, but side streets remained piled with the sodden, tangled remains of homes.

In front of the San Fernando Elementary School, government workers distributed sacks of aid to a restless crowd of hundreds who had spent the last week camped in shattered wooden classrooms or in a main school building with floors covered in wet black sand. Nearby, about a dozen body bags were neatly lined up by the roadside.

Survivors living in the school said they had received little help since the disaster.

Rica Mobilla, an 18-year-old mother of one, said local authorities showed up two days after the disaster, handing out four kilograms of rice and a few packs of noodles for her family of thirteen. The family stretched this out with onions and garlic bought from the market.

"For the first two days after Yolanda, we didn't eat. After getting that packet, we eating once a day," she said, using the Philippine name for Typhoon Haiyan.

"I'm upset. I'm not blaming anyone. If there's aid there to give out we'll receive it."

President Benigno Aquino, caught off guard by the scale of the disaster, is scheduled to visit typhoon-affected areas on Sunday. He has been criticized for the slow pace of aid distribution and unclear estimates of casualties, especially in Tacloban, capital of hardest-hit Leyte province.

In Tacloban the death toll is written on a whiteboard at City Hall and bodies have been buried in mass graves since Thursday. Tacloban mayor Alfred Romualdez said people may have been swept out to sea after a tsunami-like wall of seawater slammed into coastal areas. One neighborhood with a population of between 10,000 and 12,000 was now deserted, he said.

SURVIVORS START TO REBUILD, HOMELESS RISE

Relief officials reported a surge in desperate, hungry survivors trying to leave the coastal city of Ormoc, 105 km (65 miles) west of Tacloban.

"People are fleeing in mass numbers and coming to Ormoc, where they stand in line all day to get on a ferry only to be turned away," said Arnaldo Arcadio, an emergency responder with the Catholic Relief Services group.

"Ormoc is teeming with people who haven't eaten in days. They're hungry, thirsty and tired. They want to get out."

Across Tacloban, survivors have begun to rebuild. The sounds of hammers ring out. Men gather in groups to fix motorbikes or drag debris off splintered homes and wrecked streets. Most have given up searching for lost loved ones.

The number of people made homeless by the storm rose to 1.9 million, up from 900,000, the United Nations' humanitarian agency said. In Tacloban, at least 56,000 people face unsanitary conditions, according to the United Nations' migration agency.

Captain Victoriano Sambale, a military doctor who for the past week has treated patients in a room strewn with dirt and debris in Tacloban, said the pace of aid relief was rising.

"I can see the international support coming here," he said.

But he is still overwhelmed. "Day one we treated 600-plus patients. Day two we had 700-plus patients. Day three we lost our count."

U.S. HELICOPTERS AID RELIEF EFFORT

Massive logistical problems remain. Injured survivors waited in long lines under searing sun for treatment. Local authorities reported shortages of body bags, gasoline and staff to collect the dead.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday pledged 30 mln pounds for international aid agencies working in the Philippines.

But the patchy initial aid response highlighted the need for international agencies and local governments to prepare for more frequent, more devastating natural disasters, said Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

"This is a mindset change that must happen if we want to be able to stand up to this trend," she told Reuters in Tacloban.

U.S. military assistance has been pouring into the Philippines since Thursday when the USS George Washington aircraft carrier and accompanying ships arrived off eastern Samar province, carrying 5,000 crew and more than 80 aircraft.

The Philippines is one of Washington's closest allies in Asia and a crucial partner in President Barack Obama's strategy of rebalancing U.S. military forces towards the region to counter the rising clout of China.

The Pentagon said on Friday that U.S. Navy amphibious ships will leave Okinawa in Japan "in the coming hours" carrying an additional 1,000 marines and sailors who will provide engineering equipment, relief supplies, and medical support.

U.S. sailors have brought food and water ashore in Tacloban and the town of Guiuan, whose airport was a U.S. naval air base in World War Two. The carrier is moored near where U.S. General Douglas MacArthur's force landed on October 20, 1944, in one of the biggest Allied victories.

The U.S. military estimates that it delivered some 623,000 pounds (283,000 kg) of U.S. relief supplies to the Philippines so far. The American military also estimated that it had moved nearly 1,200 relief workers into Tacloban and airlifted nearly 2,900 displaced people from affected areas so far.

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Eric dela Cruz and Manuel Mogato in Manila, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Ranga Sirilal in Colombo; Writing by Jason Szep; Editing by John Mair and Michael Perry)

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