United Nations: Ukraine, Somalia, Covid-19 & other topics - Daily Press Briefing - March 22, 2023

Briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesperson for the Secretary-General.
Highlights:
- Water Conference
- Wash Services
- Hybrid Briefings
- Middle East
- Syria
- Afghanistan/Pakistan
- Ukraine
- Somalia
- Covid-19
UKRAINE
In Ukraine, the Humanitarian Coordinator, Denise Brown, was in the front-line city of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region yesterday. She met women affected by the war, as well as the women-led organizations and volunteers working to support them.
They told Ms. Brown about their struggles to meet basic needs, such as buying food and hygiene supplies and accessing drinking water. Some groups – such as women in the Roma community or those living with disabilities – face discrimination and difficulties when trying to secure shelter and other services.
The Humanitarian Coordinator is working with partners to meet the needs of people in and around Kramatorsk. She plans to organize more dialogues to ensure a more inclusive humanitarian response in Ukraine.
Staying in the Donetsk region, this morning, humanitarians reached the front-line community of Lyman with a four-truck convoy. The UN delivered food, emergency shelter kits, hygiene supplies, and other critical household items – as well as three months of medical supplies for the 12,000 civilians still living there, including 600 children.
Daily shelling has heightened humanitarian needs in Lyman, which has no water or electricity. Medical care is limited, with just one hospital and one primary care facility still functional.
The United Nations and partners will continue the work to ensure that civilians in these communities get life-saving assistance.
SOMALIA
UN agencies and partner organizations today appealed for US$116 million to provide life-saving assistance to Somali refugees seeking safety in Ethiopia’s Somali region.
Since hostilities erupted last month in the Sool region, in Somalia, hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have been displaced within the country and close to 100,000 are estimated to have crossed the border into Ethiopia. The agencies note that the funds will help provide urgently needed shelter and relief items, such as blankets, mats, and mosquito nets.
COVID-19
And the World Health Organization published a new report today highlighting the effect of COVID-19 on access to noncommunicable disease medicines, and showed that people living with cancer, heart diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, diabetes and other noncommunicable diseases experienced difficulties in accessing their routine medicines. Many have had their treatment disrupted, which can lead to serious health consequences.
The report stressed the importance of including treatment and care for people living with these diseases in national responses and preparedness plans, and that innovative ways are found to implement those plans.