Emergency Department, World Health Organization, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office, Cairo, Egypt.
Environ Health. 2020 Nov 12;19(1):114. doi: 10.1186/s12940-020-00665-z.
Over the past four decades, drought episodes in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) of the of the World Health Organization (WHO) have gradually become more widespread, prolonged and frequent. We aimed to map hotspot countries and identified key strategic actions for health consequences.
We reviewed scientific literature and WHO EMR documentation on trends and patterns of the drought health consequences from 1990 through 2019. Extensive communication was also carried out with EMR WHO country offices to retrieve information on ongoing initiatives to face health consequences due to drought. An index score was developed to categorize countries according vulnerability factors towards drought.
A series of complex health consequences are due to drought in EMR, including malnutrition, vector-borne diseases, and water-borne diseases. The index score indicated how Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia are "hotspots" due to poor population health status and access to basic sanitation as well as other elements such as food insecurity, displacement and conflicts/political instability. WHO country offices effort is towards enhancing access to water and sanitation and essential healthcare services including immunization and psychological support, strengthening disease surveillance and response, and risk communication.
Drought-related health effects in the WHO EMR represent a public health emergency. Strengthening mitigation activities and additional tailored efforts are urgently needed to overcome context-specific gaps and weaknesses, with specific focus on financing, accountability and enhanced data availability.
在过去的四十年中，世界卫生组织（WHO）东地中海区域（EMR）的干旱事件逐渐变得更加广泛、持久和频繁。我们旨在绘制热点国家地图，并确定应对健康后果的关键战略行动。
我们回顾了 1990 年至 2019 年期间有关干旱对健康影响的趋势和模式的科学文献和世卫组织东地中海区域文件。还与世卫组织东地中海区域国家办事处进行了广泛的沟通，以检索有关应对干旱对健康影响的现行举措的信息。开发了一个指数评分，根据脆弱性因素对国家进行分类。
一系列复杂的健康后果是由于东地中海区域的干旱，包括营养不良、媒介传播疾病和水传播疾病。指数评分表明，由于人口健康状况不佳以及获得基本卫生设施的机会有限，以及粮食不安全、流离失所和冲突/政治不稳定等其他因素，阿富汗、也门和索马里是“热点”国家。世卫组织国家办事处的工作重点是加强获得水和卫生设施以及基本医疗保健服务的机会，包括免疫接种和心理支持，加强疾病监测和应对以及风险沟通。
世卫组织东地中海区域与干旱有关的健康影响构成公共卫生紧急情况。迫切需要加强缓解活动和额外的有针对性的努力，以克服特定背景下的差距和弱点，特别关注融资、问责制和加强数据可用性。
