'The situation in Tigray could not be more dire,' says WHO

The humanitarian disaster is worsening in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, where military conflict has affected millions of people, according to Mike Ryan, executive director of the World Health Organization's Health Emergencies Programme. There are escalating needs and increasing sexual violence, and aid workers still cannot access many areas in the region.

“The situation in Tigray could not be more dire. The people there could not be in more need of support and help,” Ryan said during a press briefing Monday. “It’s very hard to overstate the extent of the humanitarian crisis and the health crisis currently unfolding in Tigray.”

The crisis has impacted an estimated 4.5 million people and led to the risk of famine. About 2.5 million people in rural areas have no access to essential services. There are 1 million people displaced within the region, scattered across 178 different sites, Ryan said.

A health and humanitarian crisis: A WHO survey of 264 health facilities in Tigray found that only 72 are operational and, of those, 40 are only partially accessible. Nineteen hospitals are completely destroyed, and 15 have major damage.

The conflict has been marred by widespread sexual violence. At just five hospitals, there have been over 800 cases of sexual and gender-based violence recorded.

Ryan added that WHO is concerned about widespread malnutrition, malaria, cholera, measles, COVID-19, and meningitis, among other diseases.

“There is a health crisis on top of a humanitarian crisis,” he said.

Ending the conflict: Ryan called for unfettered humanitarian access to Tigray, for those engaged in the conflict to remove themselves from civilian areas, and for those “who should not be there” to leave. The United Nations has demanded Eritrean troops withdraw from the region following widespread, corroborated reports of their culpability in massacres and killings.