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Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: International Committee of the Red Cross Malgré le cessez-le-feu, l’accès à l’eau ne s’améliore pas pour de nombreux habitants de Gaza. Cela rend plus difficile la vie quotidienne de milliers de personnes contraintes de vivre dans un espace qui ne cesse de se restreindre, près de trois ans après l’intensification du conflit armé. À Gaza, l’eau est une ressource rare et précieuse. L’eau de mer contamine les nappes phréatiques. Les eaux usées contaminent l’eau destinée à la consommation, à la cuisine ou à l’hygiène. Et comme les canalisations sont en grande partie endommagées ou détruites, les habitants sont désormais dépendants de camions‑citernes. « Avant la guerre, nous n’avions pas ces difficultés », explique Hanadi Al Aff, mère de cinq enfants, déplacée, qui vit en face d’une usine de dessalement remise en état dans la ville de Gaza. « Maintenant, nous transportons l’eau dans des seaux. C’est devenu un fardeau pour nos enfants. Au lieu d’aller à l’école et d’étudier, ils transportent de l’eau. » À Gaza, il est courant de voir des enfants, pieds nus, traîner des seaux, dont certains semblent plus grands qu’eux, dans les rues poussiéreuses, derrière des camions transportant des citernes d’eau équipées de tuyaux coupés et de robinets. Le parcours de Hanadi et de sa famille est représentatif de celui de plus de deux millions de personnes à Gaza, où la zone dans laquelle il est possible de vivre en toute sécurité — et d’accéder sans danger aux services essentiels, comme l’eau — ne cesse de rétrécir. « C’est une lutte pour Gaza, pour les mères, pour les enfants », nous confie Hanadi. « Nous n’avons pas assez d’eau pour tous les besoins de notre famille. Nous l’économisons et la réservons pour l’essentiel, c’est-à-dire pour boire, cuisiner et donner le bain aux enfants. S’il en reste, nous l’utilisons pour faire la vaisselle et la lessive. » Ces choix difficiles — boire un verre d’eau de plus ou en garder un peu pour se laver les mains afin d’éviter la propagation des microbes — sont une illustration concrète de ce qu’est une crise d’accès à l’eau. À Gaza, cette crise est désastreuse. Omar Shatat est le directeur exécutif adjoint du Service municipal des eaux côtières, un prestataire de services essentiels qui emploie environ 350 personnes dans toute la bande de Gaza. « Les gens du monde entier doivent [reconnaître] que nous avons cruellement besoin d’aide pour mettre fin à ces conditions de vie difficiles et à l’état catastrophique de nos infrastructures d’eau et d’assainissement », déclare-t-il. C’est Omar et ses équipes du Service municipal des eaux côtières, avec le soutien du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), qui assurent l’entretien de l’usine de dessalement récemment remise en état à Gaza en la faisant fonctionner du mieux qu’ils peuvent. Omar affirme que fournir de l’eau de bonne qualité est un moyen de protéger la vie de gens. « Vous savez, nous leur permettons de continuer à vivre dans cette région dignement », explique-t-il. Le défi auquel ils sont confrontés est de taille. Gaza étant située en bord de mer, la majeure partie de l’eau provenant des puits et des forages est saumâtre, c’est un mélange d’eau salée et d’eau douce. Elle est donc impropre à la consommation, d’où l’importance cruciale des usines de dessalement, qui permettent de la rendre à nouveau potable. Mais une grande partie des infrastructures nécessaires au traitement, au stockage et à la distribution de l’eau est soit endommagée, soit détruite — Omar estime que cela concerne plus de 80 % d’entre elles —, soit située dans des zones où il est dangereux pour les Gazaouis de se rendre. Et d’autres obstacles se dressent devant eux. L’exploitation des puits et des forages, des usines de dessalement et des stations de pompage des eaux usées nécessite de l’électricité. « Cela fait maintenant plus de deux ans et demi que nous vivons sans électricité à Gaza », précise Omar. Les gens dépendent donc de générateurs. Le carburant nécessaire au fonctionnement de ces générateurs se fait rare, ainsi que bon nombre des matériaux et des machines indispensables à l’exploitation des réseaux de stockage et de distribution d’eau, sans parler de leur réparation et de leur remplacement. Tout cela signifie que la production d’eau a chuté de manière spectaculaire, pour atteindre environ 40 % de son niveau d’avant octobre 2023. La production d’eau indépendante provenant des puits de Gaza représente moins d’un tiers de ce qu’elle était auparavant. En ce qui concerne l’eau potable, destinée à la cuisine et à l’hygiène, Omar explique qu’ils peuvent à peine garantir que six litres parviennent chaque jour à toutes les personnes qui en ont besoin à Gaza. Ce chiffre est non seulement inférieur au minimum recommandé par l’ONU, qui est de 15 à 20 litres par personne et par jour, mais il est également inférieur au seuil absolu nécessaire à la survie, qui est de 7,5 litres. Alors que de nombreuses personnes vivent sous des tentes, où la chaleur devient insupportable en été, et qu’une crise sanitaire menace en raison de la pénurie d’eau, le travail d’Omar et de ses collègues est plus nécessaire que jamais. Husam Al Nunu est ingénieur et fait partie de l’équipe du CICR qui a collaboré avec le Service municipal des eaux côtières pour remettre en état l’usine de dessalement de la ville de Gaza, où nous avons rencontré Hanadi et Omar. Les travaux consistaient à forer un puits, construire deux réservoirs d’eau et une station de ravitaillement pour les camions-citernes, et réparer les équipements de dessalement. L’usine produit désormais 40 000 litres par heure, dont 10 000 litres d’eau potable, au bénéfice de 30 000 personnes dans toute la ville de Gaza. « Cette usine de dessalement est indispensable en raison du manque de ressources en eau dans la bande de Gaza et de la forte demande en eau, notamment à l’approche de la saison estivale », explique-t-il. Husam affirme que l’accès à l’eau est une question de dignité. L’enjeu

Country: Democratic Republic of the Congo Source: World Health Organization Brazzaville— When an outbreak of Ebola was declared in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai Province on 4 September 2025, health authorities faced more than the virus itself. Fear, uncertainty and mistrust threatened to undermine outbreak control efforts in communities experiencing their first Ebola outbreak since 2007. From the outset, the Ministry of Health Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), with support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, recognized that halting transmission would depend not only on disease surveillance, treatment, vaccination and contact tracing, but also on the trust, participation and leadership of communities. Guided by WHO’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (HEPR) framework, the response adopted a comprehensive Community Protection approach that addressed both epidemiological risks and the social conditions that influence whether public health measures succeed. Rather than serving as a standalone activity, community protection was integrated across the response and became a critical enabler of outbreak control. The following initiatives illustrate key lessons for future health emergency responses. This approach was subsequently validated by a recent study that identified community protection as one of seven key strategies contributing to the rapid containment of the outbreak. The early deployment of community engagement and protection teams enabled residents to ask questions, express concerns and access accurate information. Seventy-one national and local Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) practitioners were mobilized across Bulape Health Zone and two neighbouring health zones. WHO also supported the deployment of eight national and six provincial government RCCE specialists to the field, reinforcing national leadership of this critical pillar. Trusted local actors identified through community dialogues played a vital role in building confidence, addressing rumours and encouraging early care-seeking. Their presence, alongside response teams, helped stabilize communities during a decisive phase of the outbreak and strengthened public confidence in response efforts. Community feedback and evidence informed decision-making throughout the response. Inputs gathered through radio call-in programmes, hotlines, youth forums, women’s groups and community dialogues were systematically fed into daily coordination meetings and translated into operational actions. Community concerns influenced efforts to increase access to vaccination and address fears surrounding treatment and safe and dignified burials. Alongside a baseline Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) survey conducted at the onset of the outbreak, a rapid community assessment generated socio-anthropological insights to inform response strategies. The assessment revealed that some public health messaging had unintentionally contributed to fear and delayed care-seeking. To better understand community experiences, COUSP partners, supported by WHO, conducted a rapid Community Protection Assessment involving 270 community members through 38 focus group discussions and 40 key informant interviews. The assessment generated ten recommendations that were subsequently validated through feedback sessions with 165 community members and helped guide recovery planning. With WHO support, the Ebola RCCE pillar worked closely with the traditional leadership structures of Bulape’s historic Kuba Kingdom. Traditional leaders monitored and reported weekly on six key indicators that supported community-based surveillance and strengthened communication between communities and responders. This informal partnership between traditional chiefs and the Ebola response team helped bridge trust gaps and align local leadership with public health objectives, particularly during a period of heightened fear in September 2025. A notable example of local ownership occurred in November 2025, when traditional leaders convened the “Ngese wa buadi” ceremony to address acts of vandalism targeting newly installed water systems supported by WHO. Through customary justice mechanisms, community leaders reinforced collective responsibility for protecting public health infrastructure. Community protection was integrated across all response pillars, ensuring that trust and community participation strengthened operational effectiveness. RCCE teams, led by the PHEOC and supported by WHO and partners, worked alongside surveillance teams to facilitate access to households and improve contact tracing activities. They also supported vaccination teams by addressing concerns and improving vaccine acceptance, while working with Safe and Dignified Burial teams to promote respectful and culturally appropriate practices. This integrated approach reduced resistance to response activities and strengthened the role of community health workers as trusted links between responders and the populations they serve. The experience in Kasai Province demonstrates that community partnership enhances the relevance, acceptability and effectiveness of emergency response efforts. By centring community perspectives, strengthening local leadership and ensuring that community feedback informed decision-making, the response was able to build trust while implementing critical public health measures. Community trust is not a peripheral or “soft” component of emergency response. It is a foundational element that enables response operations to succeed and helps communities protect themselves during times of crisis.

Country: occupied Palestinian territory Source: Medical Aid for Palestinians As the number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the so-called “ceasefire” reaches more than 1,000 and Israel’s military bombardment intensifies, Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) warns that Palestinians continue to be killed, starved and driven into ever-shrinking pockets of land. With the majority of aid crossings closed amid an ongoing malnutrition crisis, today’s grim milestone marks a catastrophic escalation of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Nine months after the ceasefire came into effect, Gaza still does not have a single fully functioning hospital, while doctors are increasingly forced to treat patients without access to basic diagnostic tools, equipment, and medicines. Since the “ceasefire” came into effect on 10 October 2025, Israeli forces have committed more than 3,000 violations, killed at least 1,005 Palestinians and injured 3,157 others, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Heath in Gaza. Meanwhile, the Israeli military has pushed the “Yellow Line” westward, consolidating control over an estimated 60% of Gaza – well beyond the agreed ceasefire boundaries. Last Friday, dozens of families in eastern Gaza City were forced to flee after Israeli forces marked a further expansion of the so-called “Yellow Line” by placing yellow cement blocks deeper into the area. The failure to enforce the agreement, to hold Israel to account for these violations, has had a devastating human cost to the lives of over two million Palestinians. Fikr Shalltoot, Gaza Director at Medical Aid for Palestinians, said: “We mourn as Gaza reaches yet another tragic milestone – a thousand people killed since leaders announced an end to the violence in October. Thousands more people who were told the worst was over are still burying their loved ones. “Since October, what we have witnessed cannot in any way be called a ceasefire. As the bombs continued to fall and Gaza remained under a near-total siege, global leaders convinced themselves a piece of paper could substitute for accountability, for a lifted blockade, for medicine reaching the people who needed it. And even now, as access into Gaza remains heavily restricted, and aid is weaponised against a starving population, their silence continues.” The “ceasefire” was supposed to offer an opportunity to begin rebuilding Gaza’s health system, which has been left in ruins following two years of systematic destruction. But only 20 of 37 hospitals remain partially functional, and there is not a single fully functioning hospital left. More than 1,825 health facilities have been damaged or destroyed. 62% of primary healthcare medications were out of stock in April, and the World Health Organisation (WHO) recorded 22 attacks on healthcare facilities in the early months of 2026 alone. Diagnostic services have also collapsed, with only around two functioning CT scanners serving Gaza’s entire population and many cancer screening and laboratory services no longer available. According to MAP’s team in Gaza, patients are increasingly dying from otherwise treatable conditions because of delays in diagnosis and the lack of essential medical infrastructure. Sally Saleh, MAP’s Head of Emergency in Gaza, said: “The consequences of these shortages extend beyond oncology. Even routine conditions such as fractures or postpartum haemorrhage are becoming life-threatening due to delayed diagnosis, lack of imaging, and inadequate laboratory support. Infections that could normally be diagnosed and treated appropriately are instead managed without proper identification, increasing complications and avoidable harm. “Overall mortality and morbidity rates are rising, including from conditions that would normally be treatable. Many patients are presenting too late or are unable to receive timely diagnosis or appropriate treatment due to the absence of essential medical infrastructure.” The toll on Gaza’s health workers continues to grow. On 15 June, Mohammed Mousa Al Habil, an emergency room nurse at Shifa Hospital, and his six-year-old son Mousa were killed in an Israeli strike while refilling water tanks on the roof of their home in Gaza City. He is believed to be at least the fifth Palestinian healthcare worker killed since the “ceasefire” agreement came into effect. According to the World Health Organisation, at least 1,700 healthcare workers have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, while a recent UN/EU report found that around 14% of Gaza’s health workforce has been lost. Over 43,000 Palestinians are living with life-changing injuries, a quarter of them children, while more than 1,400 people have died waiting for medical evacuation that never came, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health – and 18,500 critical patients, including 4,000 children, remain trapped inside Gaza with no way out. The UN and World Bank estimate that rebuilding the health sector will require $10 billion. That rebuilding cannot begin while attacks continue and restrictions on the entry of supplies and equipment remain. Speaking from inside Shifa, once Gaza’s largest hospital, MAP’s Medical Supervisor, Alaa Al Shurafa, described how conditions have not improved since the ceasefire came into effect: “The current phase is still marked by severe shortages of essential medicines and medical supplies. Chemotherapy drugs in particular remain scarce, as do infection prevention and control materials and many basic medical tools. “We are also facing critical gaps in anaesthetics and antibiotics. As a result, doctors are often forced to work with whatever is available, rather than what is optimal or best for the patient. While the situation may appear improved from a distance, the reality on the ground tells a very different story, a disheartening one, nothing has changed.” Throughout all of this, MAP’s teams and partners have continued to deliver lifesaving care across Gaza at scale. In the first three months of 2026 alone, they provided more than 540,000 vital healthcare and humanitarian services to a population under siege. But while Israel’s military bombardment continues and crossings stay sealed, aid organisations cannot rebuild what is still being destroyed. World leaders, including the UK Government, must act urgently to: Demand a permanent ceasefire and an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza Guarantee full humanitarian access to restore Gaza’s health system, including the immediate release of detained healthcare workers, safe passage for patients and medical staff,