WHO response to the Ukraine crisis: February 2023 bulletin

1W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Highlights 1 Humanitarian situation 2 Updates on the response in Ukraine 4 Updates from refugee- hosting countries 6 Latest guidance and publications 13 WHO has moved from biweekly situation reports to monthly bulletins. The monthly bulletin will provide a deep dive on a technical topic, updates on the strategic response plan (SRP) pillar areas, and stories from the field. 8.1 M refugees from Ukraine in Europe 830 verified reported attacks on healthcare 21 580 civilian casualties WHO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Highlights • 24 February 2023 marked one year since the escalation of the war in Ukraine and WHO has been working more actively than ever in the country. • As of early March 2023 WHO’s Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care (SSA) has verified over 830 attacks in Ukraine, with nearly 740 attacks impacting health facilities. • WHO has delivered essential medicines and supplies to areas close to the front line in Ukraine, reaching 118 000 people with key health interventions. Up to 12 United Nations (UN) interagency humanitarian convoys reached more than a dozen settlements in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions with supplies, including interagency health kits, trauma supplies and medicines to treat noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). • WHO, in collaboration with national and regional health authorities, is using data collection and monitoring tools to assess health-care resources and service availability to inform critical health-care interventions in areas impacted by the war. • To foster Kharkiv oblast-specific coordination of Partner activities, the Health Cluster established the Kharkiv Subnational Health Cluster in February 2023. • The Polish Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education (CMKP) course “Organization of health care in Poland” registered 1157 new users in February. The course, developed with WHO support, is aimed at medical professionals from Ukraine and other countries who would like to start working in the Polish national health system. • WHO continues to closely monitor the utilization of health-care services among Ukrainian refugees in hosting countries. Since March 2022 WHO has carried out or contributed to 21 surveys/assessments on access to health care to better understand the barriers refugees may face in receiving care. Table of contents 25 year old Tetiana fled Mykolaiv with her young son in early March 2022. ©WHO 2W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Fig. 1: Distribution of displaced people and refugees in Ukraine and neighbouring countries as of 28 February 2023 *Please note the distribution of displaced people has not been updated since 23 January Between 1 and 28 February 2023, 42 signals were detected through event-based surveillance, 26 of which were infectious disease signals, 14 were related to health-care capacity, and one to each – technological hazards and food supplies. In the week of 24 February–2 March, the average daily number of new COVID-19 cases was 1822, an increase from 1399 per day in the previous week. The seven-day average daily polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests performed increased to 5413 from 5353 in the previous week (compared to 42 460 per day in the week before the war, 18–24 February 2022). A similar trend is observed with rapid diagnostic tests performed in laboratories and at primary health- care and hospital level. Humanitarian situation Ukraine has seen intense hostilities since the war began on 24 February 2022. This has led to a grave humanitarian crisis, with millions of people in dire need. This includes refugees who have arrived in other countries, those who have been displaced within Ukraine, and those in areas either not under Government control or recently retaken. As the country marked one year since the escalation of the war on 24 February 2023, WHO has been working more actively than ever in Ukraine. As of 26 February 2023 the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has reported a total of 21 580 civilian casualties in Ukraine since the war began, of which 8101 were killed and 13 479 were injured. From 30 January to 27 February 2023 OHCHR recorded 2923 civilian casualties in Ukraine, of which 991 were killed and 1932 were injured. In line with the standard operating procedures of the global SSA, WHO has verified 833 reported attacks on health care between 24 February 2022 and 28 February 2023. These have resulted in 136 reported injuries and 101 reported deaths of health-care personnel and patients. As of 28 February 2023 the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has recorded 8.1 million refugees from Ukraine in Europe. A total of 4.8 million were registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe. For cross-border movements, 19 million crossings out of Ukraine and 10.6 million crossings into Ukraine were recorded. These latter figures do not reflect individuals. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 5.4 million people are internally displaced across Ukraine as of 23 January 2023, a slight decrease from 5.9 million on 5 December 2022 (Fig. 1). The estimated number of people internally displaced within Ukraine has been steadily declining since August 2022. 3W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN SPECIAL FOCUS: Rehabilitation services in Ukraine Enormous short- and long-term rehabilitation and assistive technology needs remain for thousands of people with injuries such as fractures, amputations, spinal cord injuries (SCI), traumatic brain injuries and burns. Simultaneously, the need for rehabilitation continues for issues not directly related to the war, such as NCDs, ageing or accidents. The WHO Country Office in Ukraine and the WHO Regional Office for Europe continue to work in adverse conditions with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ministry of Social Policy (MoSP) and other stakeholders to deliver evidence-based rehabilitation and assistive technology services to those in need and to achieve rapid systemic changes through policy work. Recent initiatives within this field over the past months have included: • supporting five national and four regional centres in the Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Vinnytsya, and Rivne oblasts to provide high-quality care and to improve functional outcomes for patients with SCI and traumatic brain injuries; • deployment of an international Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Team (MDRT) to directly support rehabilitation services in five health facilities; the MDRT provided training and capacity-building on rehabilitation and medical care to 88 health staff in two health facilities; • provision of 10 priority assistive products (such as crutches and wheelchairs) to people who have been internally displaced across communities; • establishing and implementing referral pathways for common traumatic injuries via collaborative work with the MoH and MoSP; • equipping the Rivne SCI centre with rehabilitation and medical equipment and on-the-job training; and • coordinating the WHO in Ukraine event (7 March) on rehabilitation, assistive technology and disability inclusion in conflict for participants who included WHO experts, rehabilitation experts, and representatives from the MoH of Ukraine and the Office of the President of Ukraine. The WHO Country Office in Ukraine, with European Union support, has donated 59 buses to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to help strengthen far-flung vaccination efforts across the country during the war. ©WHO 4W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Updates on the response in Ukraine WHO is supporting Ukraine in addressing immediate health challenges and humanitarian health needs, and investing in longer-term efforts to reconstruct the health system. PILLAR 1: Access to life-saving, critical care and essential services, and support for health system recovery From the beginning of the response and as of 28 February, emergency medical teams (EMTs) coordinated by WHO and Health Cluster Partner organizations have provided over 19 668 consultations across 10 oblasts. Of these, 10% were trauma-related and 7% were for infectious diseases overall. EMT activities include outpatient and inpatient care, hospital surgical support, trauma care, patient transfer and medical evacuation (medevac), training, and acute rehabilitation (including spinal cord and traumatic brain injury and burn care). WHO continues to deliver vital medical supplies to the recently retaken territories, and other parts of Ukraine. In February 2023: • WHO delivered essential medicines and supplies to areas close to the front line in Ukraine, reaching 118 000 people with key health interventions, with up to 12 interagency United Nations (UN) humanitarian convoys reaching more than a dozen settlements in the Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhya regions with supplies, including interagency health kits, trauma supplies and medicines to treat NCDs; and • thanks to the support of USAID, WHO delivered to hospitals in Kharkiv and Chernihiv oxygen systems with the capacity to produce medical oxygen on site for up to 20 years, to be used for patients in need of medical oxygen due to injury, acute respiratory diseases and COVID-19. Since the beginning of the war and as of 2 March 2023, WHO has delivered 2122 metric tonnes of supplies and equipment to Ukraine worth over US$ 75 million, including: • trauma and emergency surgery supplies to treat up to 44 250 people • interagency emergency health supplies for a catchment population of 1.9 million • NCD supplies for a catchment population of 5.5 million. As of 28 February 2023, 1917 medical evacuations have been successfully completed by the MoH of Ukraine with the support of WHO and the EU. This support included assisting the Ukrainian MoH in maintaining the current medevac referral system. Evacuated patients are primarily being treated for cancer, war-related injuries, and emergency trauma. In February 2023 WHO undertook a number of training activities, some of which are described below. • WHO conducted a three-day training, attended by 18 emergency medical care providers from the Rivne and Volyn regions, to improve trauma care knowledge and practical skills at pre-hospital level. • In coordination with the Ukrainian Public Health Centre (UPHC), WHO conducted a training on the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) clinical bundles for nine hospitals and more than 40 health-care providers in Dnipropetrovsk. • WHO conducted a training on the development of antimicrobial stewardship programmes and rational use of antimicrobials for nine hospitals and more than 40 health- care providers in Dnipropetrovsk. • A webinar on the “Verification and calibration of measuring equipment in a clinical and diagnostic laboratory” was held for 219 Ukrainian laboratory employees. • WHO organized a workshop on mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) as part of emergency response. The workshop was held at Kyiv for the partners of the Technical Working Group (TWG) on MHPSS co- chaired by WHO. • WHO provided support for trainings on new COVID-19 vaccine products. The most recent training was conducted in the Kirovohrad Oblast Regional Immunization Training Hub for 24 health-care workers delivering COVID-19 vaccination services. • A two-day workshop titled “Operating a 3-Diff automated haematology analyser” was held on 6–7 February at the Yuri Semenyuk Rivne Oblast Clinical Hospital of the Rivne Regional Council, and attended by 39 laboratory workers (doctors, biologists, and technicians). Initial and final testing indicated that the participants’ final level of knowledge on the training subject had increased by 37%. 5W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN PILLAR 2: Timely and effective prevention of and response to infectious diseases WHO continues its assessment of the basic quality and biosafety requirements of the Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory using the WHO Laboratory Assessment Tool for laboratories implementing COVID-19 testing. An assessment of the Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory in Kyiv City Clinical Hospital No. 1 was conducted on 30 January. As part of the assessment, the condition of the laboratory premises was inspected, gaps in the certification of biosafety cabinets were identified, and biosecurity recommendations were given. WHO has provided technical recommendations as part of discussions on estimating target group size for routine immunization in 2023 during a meeting with the MoH’s Task Force on vaccine-preventable diseases. WHO is the main partner for the development of strategic and operational documents and monitoring of implementation under the National Immunization Programme. WHO also adapted three additional online modules into Ukrainian for the Immunization Programme course for mid-level managers (MLM) and published them on the online WHO-UPHC MLM platform: (1) Surveillance of vaccine preventable diseases ; (2) New vaccine Introduction; and (3) Immunization safety. PILLAR 4: Effective leadership and coordination of humanitarian interventions in the health sector Since 24 February 2022, the number of Health Cluster Partners has increased significantly, from 73 to 196. The number of TWGs has increased from two to 11. Since its launch on 15 April 2022, the Health Requests, Planning and Response tool has been revised and upgraded, and 547 requests have been logged overall, with ten oblasts logging their largest numbers in the past two months. The oblasts with the largest number of requests were Kharkiv, Mykolayiv and Dnipropetrovsk. At the national Health Cluster Coordination Meeting held on 2 February WHO: • presented the Protection from Sexual Exploitation,Abuse and Sexual Harassment (PSEAH) framework in a brief induction session on PSEAH delivered to 115 Partners to familiarize them with the six core principles and reporting channels; • joined the interagency TWG on PSEAH; and • presented the results of Round 2 (conducted in December 2022) of the Health Needs Assessment, a nationally representative serial cross-sectional study that aims to gain insight into reported health needs, particularly in terms of primary and specialized health services, medicines and other essential health services. At the national Health Cluster Coordination Meeting held on 15 February: • the National Health Service of Ukraine (NHSU) presented the role, responsibilities and priorities of the NHSU for 2023; and • the Kharkiv Public Health Centre presented the updates and health needs in the retaken areas in the Kharkiv oblast. On 15 February the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched the Humanitarian Response Plan 2023 (2023 HRP) to which the Health Cluster and Partners contributed by capturing the health needs/ WHO, in collaboration with national and regional health authorities, is using data collection and monitoring tools to assess health-care resources and service availability to inform critical health-care interventions in areas impacted by the war. The Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring System (HeRAMS) involves gathering information on the functionality of health facilities, damages incurred, basic amenities and service availability across various domains, including trauma and general services, child health and nutrition, communicable diseases, sexual and reproductive health, maternal and newborn care, NCDs, and MHPSS. PILLAR 3: Emergency health information and surveillance for evidence-based decision-making in health 6W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Updates from refugee-hosting countries WHO is providing operational and technical support to refugee-hosting countries’ MoHs as their health systems continue to cope with refugee arrivals. The primary refugee-hosting countries receiving WHO support are Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania and Slovakia, among others. Refugee Health Extension The Refugee Health Extension (RHE) interagency initiative is led by WHO in close collaboration with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, IOM, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNHCR and UNICEF. Originally with an in-person team based in Kraków, Poland, the RHE moved to a hybrid modality as of January 2023. The interagency team meets online weekly and remains to function as an extension of the agencies’ respective regional offices/bureaus, providing immediate operational support to the refugee- hosting countries, and drawing on the expertise and complementary mandates of each organization. In February, in addition to other activities included in the Refugee Response Pillars below: • RHE partners WHO and UNHCR co-organized and facilitated an experience-sharing webinar on the first year of the MHPSS response in refugee-hosting countries, with 41 MHPSS actors joining from 10 countries to share experiences, learn from each other, and collaborate on future actions; • the PRSEAH focal point from WHO provided coordination and technical support, including trainings for WHO staff and health partners in Poland and planning of similar staff and interagency partner trainings in Romania; • the health information workstream finalized an online platform consolidating indicator data from country health assessments conducted in refugee-hosting countries; and • the RHE coordinated external communications efforts across UN partners on the refugee health response in the region, the first anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine, and the upcoming International Women’s Day. gaps and strategic response objectives. Health Cluster Partners will target 7.8 million people out of the estimated total 14.6 million people in need of humanitarian health and nutritional support. To monitor Partners’ activities within the 2023 HRP, the Health Cluster introduced a new coordination and reporting tool – the ActivityInfo platform. ActivityInfo aims to improve the operational responseby: enhancing coordination through the Activity Planning Module (APM). Partners will be able to see who is where, performing what activities, which is key for effective coordination, and that no one is left behind and duplication is avoided; and ensuring accountability through the Reporting Monitoring Module (RMM) towards the HRP target of reaching 7.8 million people with health humanitarian aid in 2023. To facilitate and maximize reporting on this new platform, the Health Cluster is rolling out a series of trainings for which Partners may register in 2023. The Health Cluster launched the third Round of the Rapid Health Needs Assessment (RHNA). Using the Health Cluster’s revised standardized assessment tools (RHNA 2.0), Health Cluster Partners will collect data on the current health and nutrition situation of households and people living in collective centres/shelters in areas where they are planning to conduct, are conducting or have conducted humanitarian health activities. The data collection period is open from 13 February to 11 March. After a debriefing session with Partners and analysis of data, the results will be made available on the RHNA dashboard for Partners to easily visualize and explore the findings of all three data rounds. To foster Kharkiv oblast-specific coordination of Partner activities, the Health Cluster established the Kharkiv Subnational Health Cluster in February 2023. The first Kharkiv Subnational Cluster Coordination Meeting, at which Partners discussed planned activities, was held on 23 February. The Kharkiv Subnational Cluster meetings will continue to be held on a biweekly basis, in both English and Ukrainian. 7W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 1: Streamlining and reinforcing health leadership and governance mechanisms WHO provides support to national authorities in refugee- hosting countries through nationally led and country-focused interagency coordination mechanisms. • MoHs continue to operate health sector working groups with direct support from WHO. WHO is providing key support to existing health working groups at country level in Poland, the Republic of Moldova, Romania and Slovakia with various health sector partners, which meet weekly, biweekly or monthly. • WHO continues to support all refugee-hosting countries in strategic planning. • In Czechia, WHO met with the Minister and Deputy Minister of Health and discussed priorities for the upcoming overall cooperation, including Ukrainian refugee response from the MoH’s perspective. These priorities include: a qualitative survey to better understand Ukrainian refugee patients’ barriers to access health care in Czechia; case management for unaccompanied patients in moderate-to-severe condition who were transported to Czechia to receive surgery or specialized treatment and who need to continue rehabilitation or ambulance treatment; direct support to hospitals providing care to Ukrainian refugee patients; support in expanding capacity of the primary health-care providers; and support to mobile clinics in case of additional arrivals of Ukrainian refugees in the country. Delivery of 26 ambulances to the Ministry of Health in Ukraine. ©WHO 8W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN WHO provides support to refugees to access health-care services through national systems, ensuring inclusive access to quality health services, diagnosis and continuity of care. • WHO has continued to provide policy guidance and technical support to refugee-hosting countries for disease prevention programmes. • WHO supported local partner nongovernmental organization “Social AIDS Committee” to facilitate health access and HIV prevention, care, and treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS as well as at-risk populations, with a focus on refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine. WHO provided equipment and consumables for rapid detection of HIV viral load and other sexually transmitted infections, which will facilitate HIV and STI diagnostics and treatment initiation and can also be used for rapid screening of patients with tuberculosis symptoms. • Governments’ increased recognition of the importance of integrating MHPSS into emergency preparedness, response and recovery has intensified the collaboration between WHO country offices and national authorities in Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. • In Poland, WHO is supporting several partners who provide MHPSS support to refugees from Ukraine and hosting communities, including via community psychosocial support activities, consultations in community shelters, trainings and psychosocial support for children from evacuated orphanages. • Through the deployment of EMT coordination centres in Poland and the Republic of Moldova, WHO has continued to support broader access to primary and emergency health services. EMTs have continued to provide support for MHPSS services through medical consultations. • WHO has continued to develop messages to meet the health needs of refugees and host communities. • In Romania, WHO set up the national information call centre for refugees jointly with UN agencies and the government. WHO supported the development of standard operating procedures, scripted Q&A and coordination framework, and trained call centre operators. The promotion of the call centre number is under way. • In Romania, WHO has launched a contraception awareness campaign among Ukrainian and Romanian youth. • Since 1 September 2022 EMTs in Poland have completed 900 transports, including 713 medevac transfers and 187 repatriation transfers, with 385 patients treated at the medevac hub. • In Romania, from 1 to 24 February, primary care services were provided to 386 people at WHO health clinics and seven family doctors’ practices. In 2023, 1436 people received care through WHO-supported family doctors, midwives, obstetrics and gynaecology specialists, and psychologists. REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 3: Strengthening access to primary and emergency health services REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 2: Removal of financial barriers to accessing health care WHO provides support to governments and health authorities in refugee-hosting countries to design policies to increase access to health services, medicines and medical products. To provide health services, countries must grant refugees entitlements to access services within the hosting country. • The governments of Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and other countries in the region offer primary and/or emergency medical care for refugees from Ukraine under the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD). For some refugees, the TPD has ended, and WHO and partners continue to monitor and follow up on these cases, providing support to local organizations and individuals. • Based on UNHCR figures, the percentage of refugees registered under temporary protection or similar protection schemes that often grant refugees the same entitlement to health services as the local population increased across all countries in December, with Romania seeing the biggest increase (7%), followed by Slovakia (2%) and Czechia (2%). Overall, 99% of Ukrainian refugees recorded in country are also registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes in Europe. 9W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 4: Reinforcing emergency health information and surveillance for evidence-based decision-making in health WHO continues to closely monitor the utilization of health-care services among Ukrainian refugees in hosting countries. Since March 2022 WHO has carried out or contributed to 21 surveys/assessments on access to health care (Fig.2) to better understand the barriers refugees may face in receiving care. Assessments continue to be carried out across all refugee-hosting countries to reinforce access to emergency health information. • In Poland, the “Health of refugees from Ukraine in Poland 2022” report was released in February 2023 and is now available on the website of Statistics Poland. On 28 February 2023 the report was showcased at the 54th Session of the UN General Assembly in New York at a dedicated side event. The theme “Towards a Global Measurement Framework of Health of Refugees and Migrants: Lessons Learned from Refugee Health Survey” was discussed by a delegation from Poland, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom in collaboration with WHO. Country Type of assessment Total Bulgaria Health needs survey 1 Czechia Health needs survey, IOM Sentinel network survey 2 Hungary IOM Sentinel network survey, Health needs survey 2 Poland Behavioural insights on refugee health service needs and access, Multi-sector needs assessment, IOM Sentinel network surveys, Health needs survey 5 Republic of Moldova IOM Sentinel network surveys, REACH multisector needs assessment, Health needs survey 4 Romania IOM Sentinel network surveys, Health needs survey, Behavioural insights on refugee health service needs and access 4 Slovakia Health needs survey, IOM Sentinel network survey 3 Republic of Moldova IOM Sentinel network surveys, REACH multisector needs assessment, Health needs survey 4 Fig.2 Health assessments carried out in refugee hosting countries Continued vaccination program for internally displaced persons. ©WHO 10 W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 5: Provision of priority medical products, vaccines, and technologies to refugee populations in need 150 tonnes of supplies and equipment to refugee-hosting countries, including Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova and Romania, from March 2022 to January 2023. 67% of the supplies requested from refugee-hosting countries have been delivered. From March 2022 to February 2023, WHO delivered 150 tonnes of supplies and equipment to refugee-hosting countries, including Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova and Romania, for a total value of over US$ 10 million. An increase in supplies delivered can be seen between January and February due to the delivery of 310 ventilators to Poland. Other supplies delivered were blood supplies, medical supplies, personal protective equipment and other IPC supplies, chemical supplies (such as oropharyngeal airway tubes for oxygen masks), HIV and tuberculosis medications, rehabilitation and laboratory supplies (Fig. 3). In February WHO delivered 3500 kg of laboratory supplies and biomedical kits to Poland and the Republic of Moldova. Since the beginning of the response, 67% of the supplies requested from refugee-hosting countries have been delivered. Fig. 3: Top five supplies delivered to refugee-hosting countries in February 2022–January 2023 ● Blood supplies ● Medical supplies ● Infection prevention and control and personal protective equipment ● Chemical supplies ● HIV/TB medications 3% 45% 13% 18% 21% Stress management training. ©WHO 11 W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN REFUGEE RESPONSE PILLAR 6: Supporting health workforce to provide health care to refugees WHO has continued to support refugee-hosting countries and the health workforce in January by providing trainings and workshops for health workers to provide services to refugees. • Following a request from the MoH of Romania, and in order to enable health-care specialists from Ukraine to legally work in Romania, WHO has assisted with locating doctors and nurses currently residing in Romania. In total, almost 300 specialists currently residing in Romania and willing to legally work and provide health-care services were identified. • Throughout February the Polish Medical Centre of Postgraduate Education course “Organization of health care in Poland” registered 1157 new users. The course, developed with support of WHO, is aimed at medical professionals from Ukraine and other countries who would like to start working in the Polish national health system. • WHO in Poland is also supporting a hotline that assists doctors and dentists seeking information on how to obtain a temporary licence in Poland. The call centre registered 165 calls from medical professionals in February. Based on this success, the MoH also agreed to open the hotline to nurses and paramedics and will share the required guidelines and information with call centre management and agents. Rehabilitation and physical therapy services being provided in Poltava. ©WHO 12 W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Prevention of and response to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PRSEAH) WHO is committed to PRSEAH in Ukraine and refugee- hosting countries. A team of PRSEAH experts coordinates efforts in and across countries in line with the overall strategic WHO PRSEAH approach, identifying areas for collaboration in interagency efforts and strengthening internal accountability mechanisms. In February the PRSEAH team provided technical support in country and at interagency level to move the portfolio priorities forward. • In Poland, the team, together with WHO Country Office (WCO) in Poland colleagues and the gender- based violence (GBV) regional counterpart, have successfully completed a joint GBV-PRSEAH training for implementing partners (32 participants). A follow- up joint session on GBV-PRSEAH was also conducted with the Poland WCO colleagues. Notably, the joint approach in Poland of integrating PRSEAH with GBV is a promising practice of building on the complementary portfolios; bridging the conversation of WHO’s dual mandate on the survivor-centred approach and zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and abuse. • In the Republic of Moldova, continued work on the Inter-Agency PRSEAH Risk Assessment is prioritized. This includes conducting a validation workshop for the data collection tools and desk review. A three- day interagency training of PSEA focal points was also conducted. Noteworthy for the month is the first PRSEAH Task Force meeting chaired by WHO. WHO working with the Health Resources and Services Availability Monitoring Sytem (HeRAMS) in Ukraine. ©WHO 13 W HO RESPONSE TO THE UKRAINE CRISIS: FEBRUARY 2023 BULLETIN Thanks WHO would like to thank donors who are supporting its response in Ukraine, and countries receiving and hosting refugees. Latest guidance and publications 1. War in Ukraine: situation report from the WHO Ukraine Country Office 2. WHO Ukraine crisis response: January 2023 bulletin 3. Ukraine: Health Cluster Bulletin, November 2022 4. WHO Ukraine Country Office COVID-19 response report 2020–2021 5. Emergency appeal: Ukraine and refugee receiving and hosting countries 6. Latest news stories on Ukraine and refugee-hosting countries WHO/EURO:2023-6172-45937-68824 © World Health Organization 2023. Some rights reserved. This work is available under the CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO license. Donors • Canada • European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations • European Commission – Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations • Germany • Ireland • Japan – Asia-Europe Foundation • King Salman Humanitarian Aid & Relief Centre • Kuwait • Norway • Novo Nordisk Foundation • Socialist Republic of Viet Nam • Switzerland • UN Central Emergency Response Fund • United Kingdom • UN Ukraine Humanitarian Fund • United States Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration • USAID’s Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance • WHO Foundation Delivery of supplies by WHO to the city of Dnipro. ©WHO