So far, eight possible cases have been reported in the South Ethiopia Region and laboratory testing is ongoing to determine the exact cause.

Health workers are among those who have been infected, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

What is viral haemorrhagic fever?

Viral haemorrhagic fevers are a group of epidemic-prone diseases that are caused by several distinct families of viruses and include Marburg and Ebola virus diseases, Crimean Congo haemorrhagic fever and Lassa fever.

They can be relatively mild to severely life-threatening and are characterized by sudden onset of muscle and joint pain, fever, bleeding and shock from loss of blood. 

Bleeding, or haemorrhaging, from orifices and internal organs is a prominent symptom in severe cases. 

Transmission can occur in several ways, depending on the disease, including through contact with symptomatic patients, slaughtering practices and direct contact with rodents or their droppings in the case of Lassa fever.

Medical professionals, supplies and funds

“WHO has deployed experts to the affected towns, along with medicines and other materials to support care for people in need, and personal protective equipment for health workers,” Tedros said.

The 11 technical officers will assist in several areas including disease surveillance, investigation and testing, as well as infection prevention and control.

The agency is providing other essential supplies, including a rapidly deployable isolation tent to boost clinical care and management capacity.

Tedros also released $300,000 from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies to provide immediate support to the national authorities.    

“WHO’s offices in Ethiopia and South Sudan are collaborating closely to prevent potential cross-border transmission,” he said, and the agency “is ready to scale up support, as and when needed.” 

The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset, adopted two bills on Monday banning UN Palestine refugee agency UNRWA from operating in its territory and prohibiting authorities from having any contact with it.

“UNRWA is indispensable in delivering the urgent, life-saving assistance that 2.2 million people in Gaza urgently need,” UNICEF said in a statement.

“With the children of Gaza already facing one of the gravest humanitarian crises in recent history, if fully implemented, this decision will be deadly.”

A singular and vital role

The statement underlined that UNRWA is the only UN General Assembly-mandated agency to provide for Palestinian refugees. 

“UNRWA runs a range of social services, with over 18,000 employees in Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, providing health, education and other essential services for Palestinian refugees,” it said. “No UN agency can take over this responsibility.”

UNRWA provides essential services and protection to more than five million Palestinian refugees overall across the Occupied Palestinian Territory and in Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

UNICEF noted that it is “the backbone of the humanitarian response in Gaza”, and that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said “there is no alternative to UNRWA”.

Critical commitment

The agency’s support to Palestinian civilians continues as war grinds on in Gaza.

UNRWA said on Thursday that in Khan Younis, its teams continue to reach thousands of displaced people with flour and essential aid.

“As the risk of famine across the Gaza Strip remains high, UNRWA’s commitment to supporting the most vulnerable is more critical than ever,” the agency wrote on the social media platform X.

‘The best medicine is peace’

Meanwhile, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, again underscored the need for peace in Gaza.

Writing on X, he stated that “all you get from war” are destruction, death, displacement, disease, depravation and famine.

“I hope our world gets back to its senses,” Tedros said. “The best medicine is peace.”

Support for Gaza medical evacuees

This week, WHO Egypt and the United Kingdom’ s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office signed a £1 million agreement (roughly $1.3 million) to respond to the health needs of people evacuated from Gaza for treatment in the northeast African country.

Through the partnership, WHO will support the Ministry of Health and partners to provide quality health services for these patients.

WHO will work to enhance the readiness of Egypt’s health system to receive the evacuees by ensuring the availability of necessary medical equipment, medical supplies and medications, including chemotherapy.

The agency will also enhance the capacity of healthcare providers to manage chronic diseases and provide psychosocial support.

Thousands still waiting

WHO has previously reported that although some 5,000 people have been evacuated for medical treatment outside of Gaza since war erupted in October 2023, more than 10,000 are still in need.

Egypt began receiving patients from Gaza last November and since then, WHO has worked to support the country’s efforts to meet their health needs.

Since the crisis began, WHO in Egypt has provided more than $2 million worth of medical supplies to local hospitals, including intensive care unit beds, mechanical heart valves, bloodlines for dialysis machines, orthopedic surgery supplies and anaesthesia medications. 

With support from Japan, WHO Egypt has also trained around 900 health workers in various fields to provide lifesaving emergency healthcare services.

Last neonatal ICU in the north out of action

Separately, UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA warned that attacks on hospitals in northern Gaza – including Kamal Adwan, the main provider of obstetric care – have shut down the last functioning neonatal intensive care unit in the region.

The attacks have also further restricted access to maternity care for the roughly 4,000 pregnant women in the area.

“Reports of women dying during or shortly after childbirth, and women giving birth alone without medical care, are increasing,” UNFPA said.

The agency reported that only two out of 20 health service points in the north are partially functioning. The same applies to two hospitals there, with the Al-Awda Hospital inaccessible due to damaged roads and the Israeli army presence nearby.

‘Harrowing’ attacks on healthcare

UNFPA said “the results of the attacks on healthcare are harrowing”, noting that an airstrike wiped out the last remaining medical supplies inside Kamal Adwan Hospital and the warehouse storing supplies also went up in flames.

Furthermore, two children died at Al-Awda Hospital after medical equipment was damaged, cutting off their oxygen supply in the intensive care unit, according to medical personnel. 

A new mother was also killed when the ambulance she was travelling in was targeted shortly after she gave birth, though her newborn survived.

Concern for new mothers

The UN agency said widespread food insecurity and ensuing malnutrition are compounding the suffering of around 14,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women in the north, who are rapidly exhausting all available means for survival. 

“As the threat of famine persists, around 1,440 pregnant and breastfeeding women will need treatment for acute malnutrition in the coming months,” it said.

UNRWA ‘irreplaceable and indispensable’

UNFPA also added that its humanitarian response relies heavily on the partnership with UNRWA, including over the past 13 months of war in Gaza.

“UNRWA’s established network and infrastructure is crucial for delivering essential reproductive healthcare, including maternal health and protection services,” the agency said.

“UNFPA is deeply concerned by efforts to undermine UNRWA, as this will jeopardize access to critical care for women and girls. UNRWA is irreplaceable and indispensable and must be allowed to deliver on its mandate during this conflict and beyond.” 

Calm has returned to Bangladesh after 20 days of unprecedented turmoil, but the nation remains on edge. On Saturday, media reports confirmed the tragic loss of 209 lives during the chaos. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina revealed that 3,800 vehicles, 29 trains, and eight river launches were set ablaze, with agitators using gunpowder in some cases. The newly inaugurated ultra-modern Japanese-built Dhaka metro railway system and the headquarters of Bangladesh TV, both in Dhaka, were also seriously damaged.

“The people of Bangladesh witnessed terrible scenes like the infernal devastation committed by Pakistani occupation forces in 1971,” Hasina said. “The rampage was carried out to undermine the country’s achievements,” she charged.

However, students, civil society groups, the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), and the radical Islamist Jamaat-i-Islami squarely blamed Hasina for the mayhem. They accused her of showing insensitivity towards students’ anxiety about job opportunities under the restrictive quota system.

The student movement against the 30% reservation for freedom fighters’ families in civil service jobs was peaceful from July 5 to 17. However, the government’s refusal to meet with agitating students to discuss an alternative rational system of quotas and its insistence on awaiting a future Supreme Court verdict set the stage for the intensification of the agitation.

At this point, the agitation was hijacked by a congeries of anti-government groups, including the opposition BNP, the radical Islamic Jamaat-i-Islami, and a large number of thugs who jump into the fray whenever a riot is triggered. A peaceful protest quickly turned into violent agitation, with violence answered by violence.

Restoration of Peace and Continued Tensions

Peace has been restored with the induction of army patrols. However, Sheikh Hasina has not let her belligerence flag. Blaming forces opposed to the 1971 war of independence, she declared that searches would be conducted in “every nook and corner” of the country to bring the perpetrators of violence to justice. Over 3,000 people have been arrested, some even picked up from hospital beds. Even a disabled boy was taken into custody.

On its part, the opposition BNP has called for a “national movement to topple the government and liberate the country.” BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Alamgir issued a statement on Friday calling for the unity of all democratic political parties, social and cultural organizations, and individuals to force the restoration of “looted democracy and voting rights.”

These references point to Sheikh Hasina’s controversial election victories without the major opposition party, the BNP, participating. Given the ruling Awami League’s alleged election rigging, the BNP has been insisting on a neutral Caretaker Government to conduct parliamentary elections. But Sheikh Hasina has consistently rejected this demand, leading to a BNP boycott. Indications are that a variety of extraneous issues will be raked up by the opposition to fight Sheikh Hasina. On July 1, BNP Secretary General Alamgir said that the signing of Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with India by Sheikh Hasina would make Bangladesh “dependent on India.”

“The most dangerous instrument among them is giving a rail corridor to India which will be of no use to Bangladesh,” he stated. Alamgir further said that all Left and Right political parties, the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, and other religious and Islamic political parties and organizations should unite under the leadership of the BNP. This is a danger signal for Bangladesh and neighboring India as Sheikh Hasina had kept the Islamic radicals under check, albeit by harsh methods.

Alamgir demanded the unconditional release of former Prime Minister and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia (79), who has been receiving treatment at a hospital. He claimed Khaleda was sentenced in false and fabricated cases to remove her from politics and to eliminate “nationalist” forces. “Democracy and Khaleda Zia are identical and inseparable. If we can free Khaleda Zia, we’ll be able to restore democracy,” Alamgir said.

Bangladeshi commentators have appealed for an end to the bickering that has become the order of the day. They stress the need to review the country’s course over the last decade and a half and come to a consensus on how to rescue the country from its current abyss.

To give credit where it is due, after Sheikh Hasina became Prime Minister in 2009, Bangladesh rose from being a “basket case” to being hailed as the “new Asian tiger.” However, as she approaches her 14th year in office in 2024, Bangladesh faces a foreign exchange crisis, heavy international debt, and mass alienation of citizens due to her autocratic ways.

Commentators point to systemic flaws in Bangladesh’s polity and economy and urge their removal. The Hasina regime is based on the brutal suppression of political freedoms, crippling of the main opposition party, the BNP, dragooning of the media, and badgering of civil society into submission.

The economy has been allowed to fall into the hands of corrupt crony capitalists who made a fortune by breaking laws and stashing their earnings abroad. This has exacerbated the economic woes of the country, leading to widespread discontent among the population.

Thirty-one social and cultural organizations held a rally at the National Press Club in Dhaka on July 26. Speakers expressed that the government seemed to care only about the damage to installations and not for the injuries and deaths inflicted on people. They demanded the restoration of the people’s right to expression and access to information. The Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (BELA) chief executive Syeda Rizwana Hasan demanded an investigation under UN supervision.

Dhaka University teacher Samin Lutfa stated, “If we can’t create a democratic system today, we will never be able to get out of the grip of dictators.” Filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki wrote on Facebook, “Those who imagine that the movement is just about jobs are delusional. Just listen carefully to the slogans. You will see that this movement is for equal dignity for all citizens. It is to bring a halt to living like third-class citizens in one’s own country. It is to remind those in state power that they are not the owners of the country; the people are the real owners.”

The student stir was but the tip of an iceberg. There are signs of it snowballing into a broad-based movement against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. The grievances extend beyond job reservations to encompass issues of democracy, human rights, economic mismanagement, and national sovereignty.

As Bangladesh navigates this tumultuous period, the path forward remains uncertain. The government’s approach to addressing the underlying causes of discontent will be crucial. Will Sheikh Hasina engage in meaningful dialogue with opposition and civil society, or will she continue to employ authoritarian measures to maintain control?

The potential for a broad-based movement against Hasina underscores the urgency of addressing these multifaceted issues. The coming months will be critical in determining whether Bangladesh can find a path towards reconciliation and reform or if it will descend further into political and social unrest.

The recent turmoil in Bangladesh has exposed deep-seated issues within the country’s political and economic systems. While calm has been temporarily restored, the underlying discontent continues to simmer. The future of Bangladesh hangs in the balance, with the potential for a broad-based movement against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina looming large. The actions taken by the government, opposition, and civil society in the coming months will shape the trajectory of the nation for years to come.