REGULAR PRESS BRIEFING BY THE INFORMATION SERVICE

Marie Heuzé, the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva, chaired the briefing which was also attended by Spokespersons for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Health Organization. As the World Health Assembly is currently taking place in the Palais des Nations, several WHO experts attended the press briefing to provide more information about upcoming meetings, activities, press conferences and special events planned for its sixty-first session.

Secretary General’s visit to Myanmar

Ms. Heuzé said the Secretary General was travelling today to Thailand and Myanmar. He was expected to arrive in Yangon, Myanmar, on Thursday, 22 May, to first visit the areas that had been most affected by Cyclone Nargis. He was also scheduled to meet with senior Government officials. He would then travel to Bangkok for a series of bilateral meetings with neighbouring countries on Friday, and return again to Yangon on Sunday, 25 May, for the Pledging Conference that will be co-sponsored by the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). From there, the Secretary-General would return to New York.

Ms. Heuzé said Mr. Ban’s objective was to reinforce the ongoing aid operation, to see how the international relief and rehabilitation efforts can be scaled up, and to work with the Myanmar authorities to significantly increase the amount of aid flowing through Yangon to the areas most affected by the disaster. It was also to more effectively coordinate and systematize the international community’s emergency relief and longer-term rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance. Available was the joint statement by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Myanmar

Elizabeth Byrs of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said John Holmes, the Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, had arrived in Myanmar on Sunday evening. He had visited Labutta and Wakema townships in the Irrawaddy delta yesterday and had seen first hand the situation in that area. He had visited camps and met with survivors with whom he could speak freely about their situation. Today, he met with Myanmar’ Prime Minister and - later in the evening - with the diplomatic corps. He then would travel to Bangkok and would later return to Yangon to attend the Pledging Conference scheduled on 25 May.

As for the update on the situation in Myanmar, Ms. Byrs said it was estimated that 2.4 million people were now affected by the crisis. Of that number, more than half (approximately 1.4 million) were estimated to be in need of urgent, priority assistance. Preliminary data indicated that some 500,000 people had received some form of international assistance. Some people were moving back to their places of origin where they would also need humanitarian assistance. Heavy rains were continuing and hampering progression of the aid, which was a matter of concern. On a more positive note, local authorities in Labutta had granted access to villages outside the town that had previously been restricted, as well as to eight government distribution stations, for the delivery of assistance. As for agriculture, there were urgent needs for tools and seeds before the start of the planting season in a few weeks. On logistics, a dedicated fleet of 30 trucks for inland road transport in Myanmar had been secured. Three barges with a capacity of 200 to 800 tons would be operating out of the ports of Yangon and Pathein, covering the eastern and western parts of the delta. Concerning finances, the UN Flash Appeal of $201 million was so far 22 per cent covered, with $43 million received, $20.4 million of which had been provided by the UN Central Emergency Fund (CERF). Multilateral and bilateral aid amounted $99.6 million, with a further $107.9 million pledged.

Véronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said health services in Myanmar were overwhelmed by survivors of Cyclone Nargis. At a hospital in Bogalay, one of the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta towns, local doctors were working around the clock to treat as many as 5,000 out-patients a day.

"They are exhausted. They are working long hours and they really need support," Ms. Taveau said, quoting Mr. Osamu Kunii of UNICEF in Yangon. There were many cases of dehydration and diarrhoea afflicting children, thus raising concerns about the emergence of epidemic diseases. 15,000 emergency kits had been distributed and they planned to dispatch 20,000 additional kits. UNICEF had also put up temporary camps with space reserved for children where they could play and receive care and psychological aid. Available at the back of the room was a “human story document” containing testimonies of children who explained what they had seen and experienced. A document elaborating on the UNICEF temporary camps’ activities was also available.

Christiane Berthiaume of the World Food Programme (WFP) said two weeks after Cyclone Nargis had struck Myanmar, WFP continued to make progress in distributing aid, even though reaching survivors remained a slow process. WFP had so far dispatched enough food to feed over 250,000 persons in the affected areas. WFP field staff reported that entire communities existed where survivors were living without any outside assistance.

Food, drinking water and shelter remained immediate necessities, Mrs. Berthiaume said. So far, WFP had managed to organize a total of 13 air cargo shipments into Yangon airport. These shipments had included high-energy biscuits, medical kits, tarpaulins and other vital humanitarian materials and even small boats to facilitate staff movement around the worst-affected parts of the delta. Many roads were reported to be in bad condition. The two bridges previously reported as damaged between Yangon and Bogale had been repaired, but it was of growing importance to have more recourse to fluvial transportation to reach people in the remote areas. WFP had purchased enough rice inside Myanmar to feed over 1.5 million people for two weeks. A further 1,050 tons of beans had also been purchased. This local purchase was allowing WFP to move food as quickly and cost-effectively as possible to those who need it most. WFP had now received 17 visas for international staff since the cyclone struck and currently had 24 staff deployed to the worst-affected areas of the delta.

Carine Richard Van Maele of the World Meteorological Organization said the Secretary General would receive today the information gathered by the two WMO experts sent to Myanmar. A press conference on the results of this field mission would take place tomorrow.

Jean-Philippe Chauzy of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said IOM Yangon would tomorrow take delivery of 10,000 treated mosquito nets donated by the Swiss Development Corporation for victims of Cyclone Nargis. On Sunday IOM Yangon took delivery of 14 tons of emergency drugs donated by the United States non-governmental organization AmeriCares. The drugs, which arrived in Yangon from Amsterdam had been taken to an IOM warehouse and would be distributed in close cooperation with the World Health Organization and the Myanmar Ministry of Health with whom the IOM had a cooperation agreement. IOM was also working with its partners to evaluate the migratory impact of the cyclone on population in the medium term. As for the finances, IOM had now received $1.88 million in funding to respond to the cyclone, including $1.45 million from the UN Central Emergency Fund.

China

Ms. Byrs of OCHA said that according to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in China, two facilities in Shifang City continued to leak sulphuric acid and ammonia due to aftershocks. Chinese, UNEP and OCHA experts were closely monitoring these facilities. Landslides had occurred due to aftershocks, blocking roads and railways, as well as resulting in the formation of an estimated 18 lakes that were potentially threatening the population living below them. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, 33,300 hectares of farmland, including more than 10,000 hectares of wheat and 20,000 hectares of vegetables, had been damaged.

None of the reservoirs in the earthquake-affected area had collapsed, Ms. Byrs said, although many reservoirs, hydropower stations, dams, and water locks had been seriously damaged. Experts were closely monitoring them. For the Government, who was actively welcoming international assistance, the priority needs were the tents, as 5.7 million people had been displaced since the earthquake.

CERF had granted $7 million to fund projects of the United Nations system to save lives and support efforts made by the Chinese Ministries of Commerce and Health, Mrs. Byrs said. According to OCHA’s Financial Tracking System, a total of $17 million in funding had been received, in addition to $76.8 million in pledges from more than 20 donors. Rescue teams from Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Russia and Singapore, as well as Hong Kong and Taiwan, had arrived in the earthquake-affected areas assisting Chinese teams. The European Union Monitoring and Information Centre for Civil Protection had installed an assessment/coordination expert team in Chengdu working with Chinese experts. And Ireland and Norway had sent relief items from Brindisi’s UN Humanitarian Response Depot in Italy.

Véronique Taveau of the United Nations Children’s Fund said UNICEF was doing its utmost to assist the Chinese Government to care for and protect children affected by this terrible earthquake. Four hundred tents were delivered yesterday, and a further 600 were on their way. UNICEF had also sent 60,000 school kits and had procured $430,000 in emergency supplies. It was impossible to estimate the exact number of children who perished, but it was estimated that 2.3 million children had been affected by the earthquake. These children needed shelters, blankets, water, medicine, and post-traumatic care. The Chinese authorities had asked UNICEF to provide experts to accompany a team of Chinese social workers to undertake a psycho-social support assessment mission to earthquake affected communities in Sichuan Province. The mission would carry out an initial assessment of the scope of post-disaster child psycho-social stress in the region. It would last five days and would visit Chengdu, Mianyang and Zitong.

World Health Assembly

Fadela Chaib of the World Health Organization (WHO) recalled the World Health Assembly had started its sixty-first session yesterday morning by electing its Bureau and hearing an opening statement by WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. Ms. Chaib also informed journalists about the World Health Assembly activities and coming meetings, and among them meetings on the influenza pandemic and on public health, innovation and intellectual property.

As a follow-up to the presentation of the UNRWA annual report, Ms. Chaib explained that four reports will be presented in the context of a meeting about the health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan: one from Israel, one from Palestine, one from WHO and one from UNRWA.

Several speakers, and among them experts of the Global Health Workforce Alliance and the International Council of Nurses, updated the journalists about their work. A number of press conferences scheduled on 21 May at the Palais des Nations were also announced.

Launch of the UNRWA Annual Report on Health Services in the Middle East

Guido Sabatinelli, Director for Health Services of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency
For Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), also attended the briefing to launch the UNRWA annual report on health services in the Middle East. He said tomorrow would be a very important day, as the World Health Assembly, currently meeting in the Palais des Nations, would discuss health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory and in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Presenting the report on the situation of the health of Palestine Refugees, Mr. Sabatinelli remarked that this was the first time they were launching their Annual Report from Geneva. UNRWA was providing social services, education and health services to about 4 million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza. The report described both the activities of UNRWA in providing healthcare to the Palestinian refugees and the health situation and status of the refugees. UNRWA was providing health services through a network of 129 health clinics, plus 11 mobile clinics that were deployed in all the fields of operation and one hospital. Last year, they had provided about 9 million consultations to refugees. They were quite satisfied with the results: they could see that they had full control of communicable diseases; no more epidemics were observed. But, on the other hand, they were seriously concerned about the degradation of health and the degree of risk for the refugees. The situation prevailing in the region, especially in the West Bank and in Gaza, the increase of poverty, the lack of an access to quality food and the reported fact that Palestinian families had now to spend up to 60 per cent of their entire revenue only for food, were all factors threatening their health. An increase in diabetes, hypertension, post-traumatic stress and other behavioural disorders related to the violence were observed, and UNRWA had to deal with those problems.

From an operational point of view, UNRWA also had difficulties, Mr. Sabatinelli noted. The global increase in prices was sometimes impeding UNRWA from providing all the necessary drugs to the refugees. They had also problems of freedom of movement for their staff, especially in Gaza and the West Bank. This was reducing UNRWA’s ability to intervene. Other Agencies were also suffering from the same restrictions to their movement. UNRWA was committed to continue to provide support and to fulfil its mandate to provide comprehensive health care for the Palestinian refugees, but the more financial support was needed from the international community to do so. UNRWA needed an additional 30 per cent of their budget for them to continue to provide the same quality of services.

Geneva Activities

Ms. Heuzé recalled that, on the occasion of its sixtieth anniversary, the International Law Commission had been holding a special commemorative event at the Palais des Nations yesterday and today. At the solemn meeting in the Council Chamber yesterday, the President of the International Court of Justice, Judge Rosalyn Higgins, among other speakers, had delivered a keynote address. Today the programme continued in Room XXI.

The Conference on Disarmament this morning held its second plenary of the second part of its 2008 session, hearing statements by Germany, Brazil, and Canada in support of the latest Presidential draft decision aimed at starting substantive work in the Conference.

Yemen

Jennifer Pagonis of the UN Refugee Agency said that High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres had opened a conference in Sana’a, Yemen, yesterday, on “Refugee Protection and International Migration in the Gulf of Aden", on the final stage of his five-day visit to the country. Mr. Guterres had praised Yemen for providing protection to people making the dangerous Gulf of Aden crossing from Somalia, but said the international community should do more to help. So far this year, more than 18,000 people had made the perilous Gulf of Aden crossing aboard smugglers' boats, double the number for the same period a year ago. More than 400 people had died trying to make the voyage. The two-day conference aimed to establish a regional mechanism and a longer-term plan of action on refugee protection and mixed migration in the Gulf of Aden region. Participants were presently reviewing the challenges in the main countries of departure, transit and arrival in the region and working to develop appropriate responses.

Food Crisis

In response to a question, Ms. Heuzé recalled the world food crisis was one of the Secretary-General’s priorities. The Economic and Social Council is holding a special session on that matter today in New York, with the participation of high-level dignitaries, including, by videoconference, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Human Rights Council would also hold a special session on "the negative impact on the realization of the right to food of the worsening world food crisis, caused inter alia by the soaring food prices", on Thursday, 22 May, in Geneva.

Ms. Heuzé recalled that the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator had decided to earmark $100 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to address immediate needs of people affected by the recent surge in global food prices. John Holmes, who also serves as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, said that these funds will be used for life-saving activities in the hardest-hit sectors, including food, agriculture, health, nutrition and logistics.