• WHO estimates that there have been 620 attacks on medical facilities in Ukraine.
• The organization’s key goals include maintaining assistance for the 150 health partners.
• The winter season presents particular difficulties.

Since Russian began its armed invasion of Ukraine in February, there have been 620 attacks on medical facilities there, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Hans Kluge, the agency’s director for Europe, stated on Friday that the organization’s key goals include maintaining assistance for the 150 health partners already on the ground and acting quickly in response to the 620 attacks on healthcare since the start of the conflict.

At a press conference on the health effects of the increasing crisis in Ukraine, he stated that other issues for WHO include the health requirements of those in Ukraine and “anticipating and preparing for challenges winter would bring.”

For those “living dangerously” and without a way to heat their homes, the winter season presents particular difficulties, Kluge continued.

With an expected two to three million people on the move in Ukraine itself as well as another flight of refugees to neighboring countries, he warned, “winter challenges and the current intensification in conflict could lead to massive internal displacement.”

As a result, he continued, “both in Ukraine and in countries that are hosting refugees, there will be an even greater demand on health systems.”

According to Kluge, mental health problems, another WHO priority, would probably “exacerbate.”

He added that this estimate was created prior to the recent escalation in Ukraine and that “ten million people… are possibly at danger of mental diseases, including acute stress, anxiety, depression, substance misuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

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