WHO Expresses Concern Over Newborn Deaths In Libya

 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has attributed the death of 12 newborns in southern Libya to bacterial infection and lack of specialised health staff to provide medical care.
Jaffar Syed, WHO Representative to Libya, said on Friday in Tripoli that the deaths occurred at the Sabah Medical Centre, Neonatal Intensive Care unit in Sabha.
He said that the tragic deaths occurred as a result of easily preventable causes, and also the major breakdown of the health system in Libya.
Syed said that it was unfortunate that the health cluster required as much as 50.4 million dollars of which only 20 per cent had been funded to date.
“The Sabah Medical Centre is the only centre of its kind providing neonatal care units in the whole of southern Libya,” he said, adding that if urgent action was not taken, “further loss of life is feared, particularly among the most vulnerable populations”.
He warned that the weakened health care system in Libya was on the brink of collapse due to critical shortages in health care workers and medicines, leaving almost 1.9 million people in need of health services.
Syed urged the government of Libya and the international community to support the health component of the country’s Humanitarian Response Plan.
He stressed that such support would allow WHO and partners to strengthen life-saving health interventions and mitigate unnecessary loss of lives.