UN Geneva Press Briefing: UNHCR, WHO

Good morning. Welcome to the press briefing of the Information Service. Today is the Tuesday 29th of September and I would like to immediately start by going, by asking Amna to come to the podium and we will start with Yemen while waiting for Dominique to arrive. Amna Zmajbegovic has brought us Dr. Annette Heinzelmann, who is the WHO Regional Emergency Director for the Eastern Mediterranean. And she is connecting from Cairo, Egypt. Welcome, Doctor. I hope you can hear me. I see we have you online, but I can't see you yet. There you are, madam. Welcome.

Then the important thing is the words. I suggest we start like this. So first of all, I wanted to thank you to give me the occasion to talk about the health crisis in Yemen related to the latest escalation of violence. As you all know... The health system in Yemen is suffering for more than a decade of conflict and the consequences of the conflict. And the latest escalation is really pushing the already fragile health system towards a breaking point. Due to the ongoing escalation of violence, the casualties are rising. More people are being displaced and disease outbreaks risk to spread further. There are already disease outbreaks ongoing. And the existing health structures are under a growing pressure and a growing strain. Today, the insecurity, the damaged infrastructure, and displacement of health workers who are fleeing the escalation of violence, as much as shortage of medicines and supplies and the limited access to parts of the West Coast, are today preventing services from consistently reaching people who are in need of these health services. According to the latest data reported by the Ministry of Health in Aden, since the 6th of August, there have been 4,481 cumulative casualties, which includes more than 830 deaths. We know that comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care has been suspended in two hospitals in Marib and Ras al-Ara because staff and operating capacities have been redirected to trauma care to care for the incoming wounded. Nine health facilities or assets have now been damaged or put out of service, and this mostly close to the areas in Tais, Lajj, and Al Hudaydah. Displaced families really need urgent, essential health services, including maternal and child care, nutrition care, vaccination, and mental health support. Due to the displacement, we see overcrowding in the reception sites. We see unsafe water and limited access to health facilities. And this is increasing the risk of disease and the further straining the care. Maybe just one point, more than 3,600 Yemenis have been displaced to Djibouti since the 10th of September, and nearly half of them are children. Partners in the arrival site are right now preparing for 5,000 to 10,000 people arriving from Yemen in the coming weeks, and this influx from Yemen is also pushing additional pressure on the health system. in Djibouti, which is already also very much under pressure. What is important, trauma and trauma care is an important part of the current crisis, but the entire health system is struggling due to these years of conflicts. Even before this recent escalation started, only about 60% of the health facilities were fully functional, with already very limited capacities for trauma surgery, for blood transfusion, and intensive care. There were already disease outbreaks circulating at a large scale in the country. We have suspected cholera cases, more than 7,780 suspected cholera cases with 22 associated deaths. And there are more than 9,600 dengue cases with 37 deaths. And we are also concerned about, uh, measles, um, uh, a measles outbreak with more than 2,000, with more than 22,000, uh, cases. So WHO has been immediately responding to the ongoing crisis. We have, first of all, supported the Ministry of Health and partners with more than 59 metric tons of medical supplies, which are worth about the net, the worth is about $656,000, and we distributed to 40 facilities in 10 governorates. We have deployed, together with the Ministry of Health, 20 mobile medical teams in priority areas and governorates receiving displaced people. However, Uh, with regards to the supply line, our warehouses are almost depleted of stocks because we, we, um, deployed everything to the health facilities on the ground to support the health system, and we have been supporting rapid response teams to respond to cholera alerts in, in Aden. What is important, as WHO, we estimate that only for our response, about 9 million US dollar are required, but we have only secured about 2 million US dollar to fund the response so far. And it is really urgent that not only WHO, but other health partners, NGO partners on the ground, are funded to keep services running, to scale up trauma care and surgical care, to prevent outbreaks through vaccination, scaling up the surveillance system and vector control, and to improve the water and sanitation services in displacement sites to avoid future outbreaks. And it's also important to increase mobile medical services for the displaced people to restore access to health care, including maternal and newborn care. Thank you so much.

Thank you very much, doctor, for this update. Let me ask if there are any questions for you in the room. Gabriela Sotomayor.

Yes, I have a question on another subject, if it's possible.

Just let's see if there are questions on Yemen first, Gabriela. Any other hand up? Alexandre is our correspondent of AFP, doctor.

Yes, thank you for this briefing. Just a quick question about cholera. Could you tell us since when those deaths occur and how big do you fear the outbreak could get?

Dr. Kim, yeah, go ahead.

Yeah, so thank you very much. The cholera outbreak, so cholera is endemic in Yemen and the outbreak is on has been ongoing already before the most recent escalation of violence. So for the exact numbers, I I'm now not entirely sure if it is since beginning of the year or since beginning of the recent outbreak. We come back to you with this information right after this meeting. With regards to to the potential evolution of the outbreak. Let's say in an area where we have already an ongoing cholera outbreak, when we see population movements, people living in really overcrowded setting with limited access to water and safe sanitation, these are factors which can support a wider spread of cholera. There are preparedness plans, there are containing measures which are rolled out as we speak, however, when a situation deteriorates and all factors are there to, to, to improve or to… further spread an outbreak. Very often the outbreak could get dynamic and cases could increase. However, partners, the Ministry and WHO, we are really working to make sure that we can contain the outbreak.

Thank you very much, Doctor. Let me go to the platform, Emma Farge, Reuters.

Good morning. Yeah, if you could just give the time frame as well for the dengue cases, since when they've appeared. I'm wondering if they're all since the latest increase in fighting. And could you comment on the death toll? You issued a very high one the other day. Could you confirm what the death toll is in Yemen since the outbreak of violence and also how WHO calculates it? Thank you.

Yeah, thank you so much. So we... We are working and our data are based on the data from the Ministry of Health. We are supporting the Ministry of Health. We are working together with a public health emergency operating center of the Ministry of Health in Aden and the casualty data and the death toll is based on the data provided by the Ministry of Health in Aden. So it was the latest figure we have received are 4,481 casualties, including 838 deaths since the 6th of August. Yeah, so I know there are different figures which have been cited, and there are other actors, so other entities who also report data, but partly with different methodologies. Us as a health organization working closely with the Ministry of Health, we are based on the data we receive from the Ministry of Health in.

Thank you very much.

Sorry, and then we had your hands, the Dengue question.

The second question.

Yeah, the second question was about the time frame of Dengue. It's the same. I think it is since beginning of the year, but I have right now a slight doubt, and I will come back to you right after.

Thank you, and I'm not taking note. Maybe you have an answer.

I'm gonna, it is, towards your face.

And now, put it towards your face, otherwise you won't hear.

Yeah. Okay. Just to say so for AFP and Reuters, we will send additional information via e-mail. And just to note also that you have already received the regional emergency director's briefing notes in your inbox. Over.

Thank you, Amna. Okay, so I don't see any other hands up on... Oh, yes, Alex, is a follow-up.

Yeah, just a question about the number of displaced people. You have a figure much higher than the one given by other agencies. You're talking about 180,000 people displaced. Can you confirm that, please? I'm talking about people internally displaced.

Yes, this is the information we have received. 180,000 people displaced across 10 governorates.

I have here, Omondi, I don't know if you have more figures, because I have here the figures of IOM, indeed it's 142,000. I don't know, can you clarify this, please? So we have... Omondi is the spokesperson for IOM Dr. So let's ask him to clarify this number.

Yeah, thank you very much. I think we've been getting a lot of questions in terms of how the figures, what the figures are and where they stand at. But it's important, first of all, to know that this is a very volatile situation and the situation keeps on changing. And so the numbers And the timelines to which we are going to get these figures are going to be slightly different. But from what we have as of, as of, uh, 28th September, the figures that we have is 114. Sorry, uh, just to flag that as from the 28th of September, what we have is that 145,000 people. have been displaced within Yemen. And this is actually an increase compared to the previous numbers that we have, where we have seen an additional 15,870 compared to the last figure that we gave. So just to clarify again, the IOM figures that we have as of the 28th of September stand at 144,000 people who have been displaced. are representing also an additional increase of 15,870 from the last figures that we had given of 145.

Alex, I see you have a follow-up here. That's the problem with figures. Go ahead.

I would just ask why the difference and where does WHO get its figures?

Doctor, can you take this?

So the figures we receive are the figures the team in Yemen itself received through the emergency operating center of the Ministry of Health. So there might be different sources to these figures. As I said, we work with the Ministry of Health and the Public Health Emergency Operations Center, which is referring to public health data.

Thank you very much. I understand this. And you want to add something, Amundi?

Just to add one thing in terms of the figures is that what we are looking at is simply the figures since the escalation of the violence. In terms of the methodology, it might be good to look at the timelines as well, because that might be a bit of a difference. But what you are looking at as IOM, and we support, of course, with DTM on a weekly basis, the figures since the escalation of the violence. So that's the figure that we are using in reference to the current context.

Yeah, that may explain. Don't go, because there's a question from John Zarokos. I don't know to whom. John, good morning. John, can you unmute yourself, please? We can't hear you. No. I'm afraid we can't hear you, John. Maybe you want to write your question in the chat, and I'll ask it to the person, because I still can't hear you here in the room, sorry. OK. So before we go to the next speaker, oh, here he is. Yeah, now it's fine, now it's fine. Go ahead.

Yes, good morning. Yes, my question is to the briefer from Cairo. On the data I mentioned concerning Yemen, are the estimates by the Ministry of Health also incorporating figures from the area of Yemen not controlled by the government, in other words, from hospitals in the Houthi-controlled area. Thank you.

Yeah, very clear question, doctor.

Yeah, thank you so much. No, the data includes only the data we receive from the Ministry of Health in Aden. We do not receive data from the Ministry of Health of the de facto authorities in Sana'a. So we cannot combine data because we don't receive data from the de facto authority controlled areas.

Very clear. Thank you. Gabriela, your question is for whom?

For Doblecho. For Doblecho on Mexico.

Yeah. If you don't mind to wait, because there is another briefer from WHO, and then I will ask Amna at the end to take questions which are not on the agenda. Thank you very much. So thank you very much.

Dr. -- Sorry, at the end of what, of the briefing.

Yeah. I have an agenda, Gabriela, to -- Okay, okay, sorry, sorry. We have speakers who are waiting, and WHO is here until the end, so we'll listen to your question afterwards. But now I would like to go to the next speaker, who is Dominic Hyde. And thank you very much, Dr. Annette Henselmann, for this update. Good luck with your important work, Dr. Amna. You stay with us. Dominique and Matt, I'll ask you to come to the podium, and then we will continue with WHO. You want to sit here? Pardon? Benvenuta. So let me welcome Dominique Haydar. I don't think Dominique needs any presentation, but as you know, she's the Director of External Relations at UNHCR. Dominique, you came with Marta to present a new report of UNHCR on the protection. Please.

Thank you, Alessandra. Nice to see everybody. Today, Matt and I are here to present a report to you. But beyond the pages of this report is a world of unimaginable suffering. And I come to you often to speak about refugees, IDPs, stateless people. I will do that today. But just a reminder to everybody, these are people like you and I who have names, and are not just refugees, IDPs, and stateless people. As some of you know, I'm recently back from Burundi and Rwanda. In Burundi, I met a woman called Justine from Busuma who escaped armed attack in her village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She fled with her 11 children and her husband, who suffered a heart attack after the drones attacked her village. and was left disabled. When she reached safety, she realized that she hadn't come with her 11 children, but there was one child that was left behind. In Rwanda, I met a young woman, Aline, at age 16. She was abducted from her village by armed groups that attacked her village in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She was held hostage for weeks, months she's not sure raped, gang raped on a daily basis till she was able to escape and reach safety in Rwanda. And you can imagine the consequences that this has had on this young girl's life. My daughter is 16. I cannot imagine what that would mean for me if my daughter suffered what she did. That 16-year-old has never seen her mother, her father, her brothers again, and we were able to help her, but she's now actually found out that she has congenital heart disease caused obviously congenital reasons, but also by the attacks that she lived through. And the reason I'm sharing this with you today is that UNHCR is warning that without $8.3 million, refugees, internally displaced people, and stateless people are at risk, I would say will, lose access to vital support this year because of the deepening funding crisis. This is not about doing less in a few places. These are wholesale draconian cutbacks that will impact countless lives, and not for the good. In some of the world's largest displacement crises, funding has now fallen to a level where entire protection systems are being dismantled. The 8.3 million figure I just mentioned reflects that this funding crisis could mean, in very practical terms, with concrete consequences for people's protection and safety. In Chad, 319,000 refugees face delays in registration. You could tell me, well, what is registration? What does that actually mean? But without that vital documentation, it means that refugees will struggle to access basic services, access to food, access to health, access to education, and it exposes them to a risk of detention that they would not have if we had been able to register them. Up to 200,000 women and girls will lose access to safe spaces and programs designed to prevent and respond to violence, and as many as 233,000 children will lose access to child protection services. In Ethiopia, the number of safe houses available to survivors of gender-based violence has more than halved in one year. In some areas, child protection coverage has fallen below 85 percent. I mentioned earlier my recent visit to Burundi, where I met families who had just fled the Democratic Republic of Congo, including children like Aline, who had been separated from their or her parents. They had reached safety, but reaching safety is only the beginning. People arriving after conflict and displacement need documentation, family tracing, psychosocial support, protection from violence, help accessing school, health care, or employment. If that support disappears at the moment people need it most, and that is literally what is happening, they can quickly be pushed into deeper vulnerability. And the consequences will, can follow for years in that person's life. We're extremely concerned by these funding cuts that are undermining the very programs that are intended to reduce people's reliance on humanitarian aid. In Chad, livelihoods, vocational training, and business development opportunities are at risk for around close to 400,000 refugees and members of host communities. These programs, they matter because that humanitarian assistance was never intended to be permanent. Where refugees are able to work and earn an income and participate in local economies, they are better able to support themselves and contribute to the communities hosting them, and then freeing up humanitarian aid for those that need it in the first days of that emergency. We are seeing the same problem when people finally have an opportunity to go home. People are returning home in numbers. We've said this to you before. But without this modest support at the beginning, rebuilding lives becomes much harder, and the sustainability of those return is put at risk. More than one million Afghans have returned or been deported in 2026 alone, but return grants have been cut from $375 per person to $170 per household. All of this comes at a time when UNHCR has already taken some very difficult decisions. Income fell from $5.2 billion in 2024 to $3.9 billion in 2025, and by the end of July of this year, we will have received only 32 percent of the funding required for 2026. We've undertaken significant reforms. we've reduced cost and prioritized the most critical activities. Last year, we cut our workforce by 33 percent, we closed 140 offices, and generated $135 million in efficiencies. But prioritization has limits, and we're facing another challenge. Increasingly, the funding that we're receiving is tightly earmarked. The proportion of UNHCR funding tied to specific activities or projects has increased from 19% in 2010. 2022 to 51 percent this year. And flexible funding right now in this current environment is essential. It allow us to keep experienced protection colleagues and teams where they are needed the most to respond rapidly when crises escalate and to protect essential programs even when a particular emergency disappears from international attention. So my message today is straightforward. We understand the financial pressures. facing governments and private individual donors. ODA is projected to decrease by 6.9 percent in 2026. This is the third year that ODA is falling and declining. Most impacted, Sub-Saharan Africa and lesser developed countries. But there is a threshold below which protection systems can no longer function. So we're asking governments We're asking institutions, foundations, individuals to sustain your aid wherever and whenever possible and extend your support. The consequences are already being felt by refugees, by displaced families every day. And without that additional support, millions will lose the protection and opportunities to keep them safe, to rebuild their lives. and ultimately move beyond humanitarian assistance towards dignity. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Dominique, for a very important subject. And I see Jeremy Lange, RFI.

Merci. J'ai posé ma question en français. Question, and then, without a doubt, you'll ask me to repeat a little bit of what you said, but in French. But the question is, put in parallel, it's 8, a little bit more than 8 million refugees that you won't be able to help, put in parallel with the total number of refugees that today the HCR is able to help. First question, and then... Voilà, vous faire peut-être répéter, expliquer précisément. Vous l'avez dit dans votre propos liminaire, ça ne veut pas dire qu'on va faire moins à certains endroits, ça veut dire qu'on va complètement arrêter à d'autres. Donc est-ce que vous pouvez réexpliquer en quoi vous allez devoir arrêter cette aide-là? Ça veut dire quoi? Ça veut dire qu'on ne peut plus enregistrer, donc on ne peut plus donner de nourriture, on ne peut plus vacciner, on ne peut plus accueillir même les réfugiés dans des centres. Voilà en quelques mots et dire particulièrement où est-ce que vous allez devoir arrêter.

These pages, on parle d'une souffrance inimaginable. Je parle de 8.3 millions de réfugiés, de déplacés, d'apatrides qu'on ne pourra pas aider, parce que nous n'avons simplement pas les sous. Et ceci ne s'arrête pas seulement au HCR, c'est aussi les ONG, c'est aussi l'UNICEF, c'est aussi le PAM, c'est aussi l'OMS dont on vient juste d'entendre parler. Et l'impact est direct. À ce point-ci, on parle de protection et de documentation qu'on ne peut pas fournir. Et cette documentation veut dire qu'un réfugié n'est pas en sécurité, même une fois qu'il a atteint la frontière du Tchad, dans ce cas-ci, s'il est du Soudan, parce que le réfugié n'aura pas accès à l'aide alimentaire auquel il ou elle a droit, n'aura pas accès aux soins de santé, n'aura pas accès à l'éducation. Comme vous et moi, si on n'a pas de documents, nous And so that would be also the family and the children who don't have access to the endrois who could be guarded in security after the situation of violence extreme which is on vehicle. Donc on parle de réalité, on parle d'une, d'un, d'un, d'un décroît de l'aide au développement qui perdure aux dépens de, l'aide à la défense, à la sécurité qui augmente. L'une ne vaut pas l'autre, on a besoin des 2, mais quand on voit le peu. d'argent dont on aurait besoin pour aider des millions de gens et changer leur vie et leur offrir la dignité que nous-mêmes nous demandons pour nos enfants, pour nos familles, il y a une injustice, une injustice. Et voilà, c'est ce que je voulais dire. Donc dans le monde, on parle de 117 millions de réfugiés et de déplacés internes et d'apatrides dans le monde.

Voilà.

Merci, Dominique. Any other question in the room? Gabriela? Gabriela Sotomayor, Proceso.

Yes, thank you for taking my question. My question is on USA. Are you aware of the situation of people that are being chased by ICE in the USA? There was a Venezuelan guy that was killed because he was just there, and he was killed. That's it. So there are people in the border coming from all over Latin America. They are in the border waiting for asylum in jails. They are in cages, even children, children in jails. To be to ask for asylum and to be a refugee is not a crime, as I know. So if you can comment on that situation, and what is your message to the government of USA if the children have to be in cages? Please come on with the mothers. Thank you so much.

Thanks for your question. I mean, in terms of those the specific details of the reports that you mentioned, I don't have details on that right now. But I mean, what we say in general terms about the situation in the U.S., but also in every country in the world, is that, of course, people who are fleeing war, violence, torture, persecution, they have a right to claim asylum and to have access to asylum, and their cases should be heard. And if they require international protection, then they should be given that international protection. And if they don't have a right to that protection, then they should be returned as far as possible in dignity and in safety. And that's our position on that. On children specifically, there is a process around the best interests of children. Children should not be kept in detention, and there is a best interests policy that should be followed whereby the interests of those children are supported by the authorities.

Yes, thank you. Thank you. But are you aware of what can you say about the situation, about the conditions that the people are in the border waiting for asylum? What are the conditions there in not in the side of Mexico, okay? Mexico doesn't have money, but USA? So what are the conditions, if you can talk about that, the conditions, because I mean, people are waiting, but they are in jail. Okay, thank you.

I don't have any details on the specific conditions of these people, but of course, in general, people who are on the move, people who are applying for asylum should be treated in dignity, and they should be given the support that they need. By the way, our High Commissioner is currently in the region. He's in Mexico, and he's meeting with authorities in the country. And so those discussions, we hope, will bear some fruit in terms of progress towards supporting Mexico with the asylum seekers who are in the country at the moment.

Thank you very much. Any other question for Dominique or UNHCR? Alex, AFP.

Yeah, but it's not on the report itself. It's on Myanmar.

So if you want to wait later, or we can go now. No, I think there are no other questions. Go ahead.

OK, thank you. Can you tell us what is the UNHCR position on the supposedly voluntary return of the 1,500 Burmese national from Malaysia, which began today? Many argue, of course, that sending them to a country at war could put them in danger. We saw this morning that a nurse strike yesterday on the market, a lot of dead people. What's your position on this, please?

Thanks for the question. The latest information that we have, and this is a very fluid situation, is that the individuals have not left the country yet and that there are some last-minute appeals ongoing at this stage, but we would say in general terms that we are concerned by the reported imminent return of some 1,500 individuals from Myanmar to that country. With ongoing armed conflict and widespread violence and human rights violations across Myanmar, UNHCR maintains that current conditions do not permit safe, dignified, and sustainable returns. Under international law, no one should be sent to a country where they may face persecution, torture, serious harm, or other threats to life, liberty, and security. We remain committed to continuing to engage with the Government of Malaysia through technical support, policy dialogue, and capacity building to develop accessible and effective protection measures.

Thank you very much. And I see John Zarocostas has a question too, The Lancet and Francois Ancet.

Can you hear me there?

Yeah, John, go ahead.

Yes, my question is to Matt and also to the WHO rep on the podium. I was wondering, Matt, if you have any information and what is UNHCR doing in terms of contingency measures in the renewed civil war in Ethiopia? There are disturbing reports coming from health NGOs of hundreds of wounded patients in hospitals. Thank you.

Well, in terms of the situation in Ethiopia, we, of course, repeat the concerns that have been expressed by the Secretary-General in New York of the United Nations. We are obviously monitoring the situation very closely. Again, it's a very active and fluid situation. We are taking the appropriate measures with our staff in the region to ensure that we can support those who need it as soon as the conditions allow for that on the ground.

Yeah, indeed. Yes, I think OCHA was warning that worsening security conditions across northern Ethiopia are adding to humanitarian needs and disrupting humanitarian operations. And the problem is really seems to be that the access for humanitarians have been severely restricted by disrupted telecommunications, suspended flights to and from the Tigray region and some other locations, as well as in the Amhara area. Restrictions on key roads are also impeding our humanitarian operation. This has limited the movement of humanitarians of relief. supplies to people. And of course, we really need a safe and unhindered access. That's what we are calling for, for humanitarian goods, humanitarian workers, wherever they are needed. Amna, do you have something more on the health situation specifically?

Not much to add to what you already said, Alessandra. Uh, but from WHO side, in terms of response, uh, there is a response, uh, plan covering emergency response, uh, coordination, surveillance, and early warning and, uh, response operations. There is, um, as expected, health cluster coordination mechanism, and we are working also. with the United Nations-wide coordination mechanism to support partners. There is a plan at the moment to deploy surge personnel to reinforce response capacity in priority locations and support coordination, surveillance, response operations, and the continuity of essential health services. That's what we have at the moment.

Thank you very much, Amna. John, you have a follow-up.

Yes, good morning. I was wondering if you have any data from your field office on the casualties and what is WHO doing to support some of the hospitals that are having a big influx of war wounded people coming in. Are you sending emergency kits, surgical kits? Can you bring us up to speed? Thank you.

Yeah, thanks, Jean. I don't have anything further to what I have already said. If I find out anything, I'll let you know. Thanks.

Thank you, Amna. And thanks, Dominique, from UNHCR. Dominique, thank you for coming and also answering other questions in addition to the important report that you have detailed. So let me now go again to WHO with Dr. Diaz, who has been patiently waiting. to tell us more about the situation in the region hit by Ebola. So I'll let you start with your introductory remarks, and then we'll take questions, if any.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. So I am here to provide you a brief overview of the Ebola patient care in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I recently returned from the DRC, where I supported clinical management and operations activities. This was my second visit to the country since the start of this Ebola outbreak caused by the Bundibugyo virus. While we are beginning to see a reduction in transmission in some areas, the number of cases remains high for this outbreak. We know that for Ebola disease, early access to care can significantly improve chances of survival. Yet in this outbreak, many people are still dying at home or in their communities because they are unable to reach health facilities on time. Delays in seeking care, together with challenges in access and referral, continue to complicate the response. WHO and partners have focused on strengthening early recognition of illness, rapid referral systems, and early supportive care in this response. During the five weeks I spent in Bunia, I visited Ebola treatment centers within the hotspots, worked with the Ministry of Health and partners such as MSF, Alima, Med-Air, International Medical Corps, UNICEF, WFP, and UNFPA to ensure a coordinated treatment scale-up. Altogether, we have taken important steps to improve patient care. We have expanded Ebola treatment capacity from only a handful of beds that was at the start of the outbreak to more than 1,600 beds across 50 treatment centers within the seven affected provinces, with further expansion planned to reach just over 2,000 beds. We have supported free access to Ebola care, the provision of meals and nutritional support, and support of mental health and psychosocial support for patients and families. We are working to ensure pregnant women and young children all have access to safe and quality care by bringing in appropriate specialists. We have trained a large number of health workers, in total nearly 400, with the newly launched training hub in Bunya, training around 30 to 60 health workers a week. Every patient bed requires a skilled workforce to provide safe, quality care around the clock. We have just launched the survivor program in Bunya to support recovery and long-term well-being after Ebola disease. And we continue to support clinical trials for candidate therapeutics and prophylaxis, ensuring all participants receive high-quality supportive care and follow-up. My final point is on the importance of access to medical oxygen. Because without previous oxygen scale-up efforts in Ebola and Marburg responses, we would not be where we are today in terms of more positive outcomes for patients. Oxygen is an essential life-saving medicine and a critical component of supportive care for patients with Ebola, particularly those with severe illness. More broadly, oxygen is used to treat a wide range of conditions across all stages of life, yet it remains unavailable or unreliable in many health facilities, especially in emergency settings. Ensuring access to oxygen is about much more than cylinders or equipment. It requires functioning health systems, reliable infrastructure, trained health workers, and sustainable delivery systems that reach patients wherever they are. As we mark World Oxygen Day later this week, WHO is calling for renewed investment in medical oxygen systems so that every patient everywhere can receive the care they need when they need it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Doctor, for this briefing on the situation in the DRC. Any question in the room? Don't see a hands up. So Emma Farge, Reuters.

Hi, good morning. I'd like to know.

Can you just, Emma, go ahead.

Okay, I'd like to know what portion of the patients in getting treatment for Ebola actually have access to oxygen in Congo and what the constraints are. And if you could give me some data or observations on how that impacts the fatality rate, please. Thank you.

Thanks for the question. I don't have those exact numbers, and we can see if we can provide some more exact numbers to you. The challenges in ensuring that there is oxygen to medical oxygen across the treatment centers within the affected areas is really kind of dependent on the on the health system prior to this outbreak. So in areas, for example, such as Bunia, where there is an oxygen generation capacity, there has been oxygen cylinder distribution plans. The augmentation of oxygen concentrators, which has been one of the major interventions by WHO and its partners, including high flow oxygen devices, that has been able to fill the gap and the oxygen requirements we saw in Bunia, which has been where many of the cases are in Niteri Province. However, in some areas where there is perhaps more limited oxygen prior to the outbreak, then the scale-up initiative has been predominantly around the distribution and delivery of oxygen concentrators, dependent that there is reliable electricity, which has been a concomitant intervention to ensure that the hospitals have reliable electricity, reliable water, and access to sanitation and hygiene. So I think looking at it from that element is what we've been able to deal with and how we're approaching the problem. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Yes, you wanted to answer. Is there any other question on Ebola, Gabriella, please? We start with Ebola, we finish with you. Any other question on Ebola?

It's on Ebola.

It's on Ebola, go ahead.

Yeah, thank you so much. My question is on Venezuela. How is the situation on Ebola in Venezuela, if you can talk about that? Thank you. If the government gave you information, if you are aware of that, it was a serious issue.

Which time period are you referring to, Gabriella?

Sorry.

Which time period are you referring to? Right now, is that the current situation?

Yeah.

I'm not aware of any reports, but I will check and get back to you. I will check and get back to you. I am not at this moment aware of any reports, but I will check with the colleagues and I will let you know if I have received anything in response. Thanks.

Is there any other question to Dr. Diaz on Ebola? I don't see any, so Gabriela, please ask your question on Mexico.

Thank you so much. Sorry that I am like a little bit like this, but the situation, it's horrible, okay? Are you aware of the situation of doctors, nurses, medicines, et cetera, in Mexico? I was in Mexico, and I spoke with a lot of people, okay? And for example, there is no material in the hospitals. No material public hospitals I'm talking about. No, no, no, no, nothing to make surgeries. Even gloves, they don't have gloves, okay? Then, then there's no medicines in the pharmacy. You go, I mean, you are poor people, you go to ask for an antibiotic, there's no antibiotics. Even no vaccines for measles, measles. This is a disease that it was eradicated in Mexico a long time ago. OK.

And what's the question?

Yes, no, the question is, if you are aware of the situation, even, sorry to be a little bit long in the question. I spoke with a person with diabetes, OK, a guy, a young guy. He couldn't be in the hospital, treated in the hospital, public hospital, so they amputate the leg because it's easy to amputate. than treat. So diabetes, Mexico is number one in diabetes in the world. So what can you say about the situation in Mexico? And this is extremely serious because Mexico never had these kind of problems before. Thank you so much.

Who wants to take that, Amna or Dr. Diaz.

Thank you, thank you, Gabriela. Yes, we are aware of your e-mail inquiry, and we have contacted our office in Mexico and our regional office, and we are waiting to hear back from them. In the meantime, if you could please check, there is a very nice PAHO health information website with some information about Mexico. And from there, a couple of things that I would like to highlight now is Mexico has made important health gains in the past two decades, but As you rightly mentioned, some important challenges do remain, they are linked to a couple of factors, including population aging, including access to health due to financing and out-of-pocket expenditure, and as you mentioned, quite a high burden of noncommunicable diseases. But also, one thing to stress is that these challenges are not unique to Mexico. Progress on ensuring universal health coverage globally has stalled since 2019, and in 2023, we had more than half the world population, over 4.5 billion people, who were not fully covered by essential health services. And in 2021, over 2 billion people have experienced catastrophic or impoverishing health expenditure due to out-of-pocket health costs. Yes, Gabrielle.

Yes, but sorry to insist in this. I wrote an e-mail with my questions to your office and no response at all, okay? So you say that you come back to me, please come back to me. Okay, and then, and then, and then, are you aware, are you aware of unnecessary, unnecessary amputations?

That is, I understand, I think I'm gonna just answer you.

How can you amputate a young guy a leg? It's.

Terrible, but I understand from Amna that they've asked their office and they will come back to you very quickly. Okay, so if there are no other questions, I'd like to thank you both for the briefing. I have a few announcements for you, but the most important, please, note, the most important thing is that The press conference for by WIPO on the 2026 edition of WIPO's Global Innovation Index. with Darren Tang, the Director General of WIPO, and Sasha Vincent, the Head of Composite Indicator Research Section of WIPO, has been moved, as you know, to 12:15. So please connect. This is going to be in less than one hour, and it's a virtual press conference hosted by WIPO. 15, and not at I think it was announced for 1:00 or something like that, 15. And so please connect at 12:15 to this press conference and be reminded that the embargo lifts also today. I think it's lifted already, 9:30 AM. This is to be checked, the information I have. So that was one of the things I wanted to tell you. The other thing is that you may not know, but on the 1st of October, we are commemorating for the first time International Coffee Day. Coffee is an incredibly important commodity which sustains the livelihood of at least 12.5 million farming families and underpins a global market worth close to $150 million. billion, sorry, billion dollars a year. So it is absolutely important to commemorate this first international day. And in order to do so, the International Trade Center and its longstanding partner, the International Coffee Organization, are marking the first UN-recognized, as I said, International Coffee Day with the launch of the Coffee Market Intelligence Platform, which is a new interactive tool bringing together daily market indicators, monthly trade data, and annual production and consumption figures. This launch will be made through a press conference, which will take place tomorrow, Wednesday, 30th of September, at 10:00 a.m. at the International Center of Conference, ICJ, the CICJ. here in Geneva, very close to the Palais des Nations. You have to register for this press conference. I think you've just received the media advisory for the press conference and the launch with all the details. So if you're planning to attend, please send a message to press@intercent.org. And Estela Kottis will be able to answer your question. And also, there are no human rights treaty body meetings this week, so no update on that side. But I wanted to mention a plenary meeting that is taking place in New York today. It's the high-level plenary meeting to commemorate International Day for Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons. This is a day that is already passed, as you know, is the 26th of September, but the observation in New is taking place today, and we are expecting that this high-level meeting will emphasize nuclear disarmament is the highest disarmament priority of the UN and highlight it will highlight the continued risk posed by the more than 12,000 nuclear weapons estimated to exist worldwide. The Secretary General is expected to give his remarks. And you can follow this high-level meeting on UN Web TV. It will start at 10 a.m. New York time. And that is, I think, what I had for you. So if there are no questions, I would like to thank you all very much, and I'll see you on Friday. Thank you.