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Most of us welcome the early signs of winter with hail. We associate it with the heat: knitting jumpers, fireplaces, year-end festivals and children playing in the snow. But for others, the onset of winter may be a signal of a start to a potentially life-threatening season.
We see it every day all over Europe: The lives, health and well-being of refugees and migrants are at stake because of geopolitics.
In recent weeks, thousands of migrants have been stranded in uninhabited areas along the borders of Belarus and Poland, Latvia and Lithuania. Many have lost their lives, in them, mothers and children. Than 60 percent about the refugees that experts from the WHO Regional Office for Europe spoke to on a recent trip to the Belarus-Lithuania border needed medical treatment.
During my trip last month to the 2,000 migration centers in Belarus, I saw the situation at their risk. The people I met – families with children, young and old – lived in extremely difficult, crowded places, with a lack of hygiene. They were tired and despairing, but they still clung to the hope of a better life.
At the same time, in another part of Europe, hundreds of people are risking their lives crossing the seas across Europe, across the English Channel or the Mediterranean. Now the deaths of these fraudulent tourists are no longer heard in the newspapers. Last month, 90 people lost their lives in the Mediterranean and at least 34 in the English Channel.
Looking through Europe, we can already expect that many people will flee the urgent problems in Afghanistan. Currently, 8.7 million people in Afghanistan are malnourished, and the cold weather in Afghanistan could be severe.
The United Nations estimates that 274 million people worldwide will need human assistance next year, an increase of 17 percent this year. Providing humanitarian assistance to developing countries can go a long way in eliminating the reasons why so many people leave to find a better life in the first place.
At all levels, WHO is working with partners to address human suffering, addressing needs; negotiating with government officials to meet immediate needs, including providing sanitation, setting up hospitals, and developing prevention strategies for COVID-19, such as testing and vaccination. Since our visit to Belarus, government officials have taken steps to improve access to basic medical care and toilets for refugees. But no matter how important these actions are, they cannot replace traditional methods.
This is a relaxing time. Regardless of the political affiliation or lack thereof, refugees and refugees should receive humanitarian assistance and access to medical care. As our region faces the new COVID-19 wave and the emergence of new species and a growing number of cases, we must ensure that protection against the virus for those most at risk. The plague has taught us that no one is immune to adversity.
Health should not be a political issue, and access to health care should be protected as a fundamental human right. The World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe has for a long time been promoting the health of refugees and refugees, with international support in arranging for more refugees and refugees, and developing more integrated and friendly health systems. It is a policy of the European Program of Work not to leave anyone. But we must speed up the process, with the help of groups and politicians.
That is why we are inviting the ministers of health in Europe and the East African and Mediterranean regions to a high-level meeting in March 2022 to find a way forward and to strengthen political commitment to ensure the health of refugees and refugees.
Good health is something that everyone, everywhere, should enjoy. Climate change should not be a matter of life or death. Health is not an opportunity: it is an essential right for all people, including refugees and refugees.
Let us give all people the dignity, respect, and opportunity to provide medical care, not just in this winter, but in the years to come.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Al Jazeera.
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