Life is about to get even more precarious for many people in Ukraine, warned the World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday, as it noted that winter will make survival even harder for people trying to make ends meet in a war zone.
"Too many people in Ukraine are living precariously, moving from location to location, living in sub-standard structures or without access to heating," warned Hans Kluge, the WHO's director for Europe.
"The destruction of houses and lack of access to fuel or electricity due to damaged infrastructure could become a matter of life or death if people are unable to heat their homes."
He noted that the government of Ukraine has tallied 800,000 houses that have been damaged or destroyed since the start of the war. It warned that people with inadequate housing run higher risks of suffering frostbite, hypothermia, pneumonia, stroke and heart attack.
Additionally, the loss of housing is forcing people into group homes and centres, which could increase the spread of respiratory diseases like the coronavirus. There is also the worry about the incidence of mental illness - which has been understandably high since the war's start - taking another leap upwards.
Kluge emphasized that the WHO is in Ukraine to stay, despite the war conditions, supporting more than 150 health care partners on Ukrainian territory.
