The World Health Organization warns the catastrophic destruction of the Kakhovka dam in Ukraine June 6 risks unleashing an epidemic of physical and mental health problems.
“So far there have been no reports of disease outbreaks, but we remain prepared to scale up our support as needed,” said Jarno Habicht, WHO representative in Ukraine.
In view of the looming disaster, Habicht left his base in Kyiv for Istanbul, where he arrived early Tuesday morning to meet with donors to drum up support for an anticipated large-scale, life-saving operation in Kherson and surrounding communities.
According to Ukrainian authorities, the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam has flooded large swathes of agricultural land, fully or partially submerged at least 80 towns and villages in the Kherson region and uprooted an estimated 17,000 people in the government-controlled areas.
“The situation continues to evolve,” said Habicht, but “the collapse of the Kakhovka Dam has resulted in severe flooding, displacing communities, and posing significant risks to public health.”
“Our primary concern at this moment is the potential outbreak of waterborne diseases, including cholera and typhoid, as well as rodent-borne diseases.”
He said a WHO team, which has been on the ground since day one, was closely monitoring the health situation in coordination with local authorities and providing support where needed.
He noted that cholera kits, which the WHO provided to Kherson and neighboring oblasts as preventive measures last year, now “can be deployed to control isolated cases of disease if they occur” in the hopes of preventing this deadly disease from escalating.
He said urgent measures were being taken to address critical public health issues. These include efforts to raise community awareness about water-borne diseases, the issuance of water safety messages, and providing informational material on acute intestinal infections and preventive measures.
Habicht said there was particular concern about the toll on the mental health of the population resulting from this latest incident, as well as cumulative previous disasters experienced by Ukrainians since Russia invaded the country February 24, 2022.
“We have had attacks to civilian infrastructure in October. We went through a dark and cold winter. We have lost one of the symbolic dams on the river. That means that the stress that the population goes through is growing,” he said.
“What we are talking about is millions of people who need mental health support,” he said.
“So that is why we are in the field. We have trained tens of thousands of health workers to provide mental health care to people at the primary health level.”
He said other priority matters of concern include the potential release of hazardous chemicals into the water, “which could have severe impacts for years to come.”
He said the risks posed by thousands of landmines planted in the area cannot be underestimated. He warned those lethal weapons would become particularly dangerous when water levels go down in the next seven to 10 days and become dislodged.
He noted that “the mine maps will not be available to ensure that the coast of the river is clean” making it more likely that more civilians will be killed and maimed by the weapons.
While efforts are underway to provide people in the fragile region with the support they need, Habicht said humanitarian workers are unable to access the territories temporarily occupied by the Russians.
“We are asking for security guarantees to go to the occupied territories to do the needs assessment and to save lives.
“We have asked constantly for access to the occupied territories by the Russian Federation,” he said. “Until now, we have not received the security guarantees to ensure that we can go to the occupied territories and support millions of civilians and Ukrainians living there.”
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