February 5th, 2014

Minutes of Health Cluster Coordination Meeting

Venue: WHO Office, Sana’a

February 5^th , 2014

Attendances: MOPHP, WHO,UNICEF, OCHA, Immap, ADRA, MSF France, MDM France,, YMCS, NFDHR, RI, IRC, CSSW, UNFPA.

Name	Title	Organization	Email
Dr. Ghazi Ismail	Deputy minister of health	MOPHP	[e-mail]
Dr Dauod Altaf	Health Cluster Coordinator	WHO	[e-mail]
Dr Amal Alsuqaf	Health cluster coordinator assistant	WHO	[e-mail]
Dr Osan Ismail	EHA operation officer	WHO	[e-mail]
Dr. Kamal Olleri	Health Cluster Technical officer	WHO	[e-mail]
Dr. Fekri Dureab	Nutrition Coordinator	WHO	[e-mail]
Abdulsalam Sallam	Health education DG	MOPHP	[e-mail]
Bashar Bahran	IMO	OCHA	[e-mail]
Haifa’a Harun	Program officer	NFDHR	[e-mail]
Gul M Fazli	HAO	OCHA	[e-mail]
Sofiah Alsaydi	Program manager	Relief International	[e-mail]
Abdullah Abosalah	Medco assistant	ICRC	asaleh@icrc,org
Saara Bouhouche	Grants & compliance manager	IRC	[e-mail]
Dr. Isam Awad	CSSW emergency coordinator	CSSW	[e-mail]
Dr. Wafa’a Alsaidy	Health officer	MDM-France	[e-mail]
Margaret Fryer	Program Assistant	ADRA	[e-mail]
Dr. Agostino Munyiri	Health/ Nutrition Coordinator	UNICEF	[e-mail]
Dr. Sham-Minh	Medical Coordinator	MSF- France	[e-mail]
Dr. Abdullah Radman	Medco deputy	MSF-France	[e-mail]
Malak Shaher	Communication officer	MSFF	[e-mail]
Ahmed Aldohma	Relief director	YMCS	[e-mail]
Mohammed Qahtan	Medical coordinator	YMCS	[e-mail]
Dr. Arwa Baider	Child Health Officer	UNICEF	[e-mail]
Dr. Salwa Aleryani	Health Specialist	UNICEF	[e-mail]
Dr. Samiha Bataher	RH Manager	IRC	[e-mail]
Ghamdan Mofarreh	HRO	UNFPA	[e-mail]
Abdulmalek Mofadal	Env. Health fficer	WHO	[e-mail]
Abdon Trowonou	Country Director	IMMAP	[e-mail]

Agenda:

• 
  Introduction
  
• 
  Partner updates
  
• 
  Situation in the North of the Country (Sa’ada, Amran, Hajjah, Aljawf, ).
  
• 
  Situation in the south with briefing on Al-Dhale.
  
• 
  Discussion on Health Cluster work plan, including tentative distribution of activities and geographical areas.
  
• 
  Briefing on eDEWS Program during 2013 .
  
• 
  AOB.
  

Action points:

• 
  UNICEF will share the report on EPI in 2013 with the Cluster partners (UNICEF).
  
• 
  YMCS will share their IRA report they have conducted in Amran and Sana’a for IDPs with Cluster partners. (YMCS).
  
• 
  Sharing the Health Cluster Work plan Template with Partners. (Health Cluster)
  
• 
  A Summary of Activities on monthly basis to be shared with the Health Cluster and MoH. (Health Cluster Partners)
  

Introduction and Opening:

The Health Cluster meeting was held on 5^th February at WHO office in Sana’a. The meeting was opened by Dr. Ghazi Ismail, Deputy minister of curative care and Dr. Dauod Altaf, the Health Cluster Coordinator. It was started with opening remarks by Dr Ghazi regarding the current situation and potential emerging health needs. Afterward the participants introduced themselves.

Discussion notes/updates:

• 
  Introduction and opening remarks
  

• 
  The meeting began with opening remarks by the Dr Ghazi Ismail and Dr. Dauod Altaf, the Health Cluster Coordinator
  
• 
  Partners then introduced themselves.
  
• 
  Dr. Dauod Started with a briefing on the Situation in the North and Health Cluster response.
  

• 
  Partners update:
  

WHO:

• 
  National:
  

• 
  UNFPA RH Kits procured under CERF funding arrived in Haradh, Saada, Amran and Aden. WHO/MoPHP are facilitating distribution of these medicines to target health facilities. 
  
• 
  Preparations for a National Round of Polio immunization campaign, planned for end of February are under way.
  

• 
  Sa’ada:
  

• 
  WHO sent essential medicines to Dammaj with GHO Director, who visited Dammaj to perform a rapid assessment of needs.
  
• 
  In coordination with MoPHP, WHO is planning to provide essential medicines and cover needs in the northern districts of Amran including Al-Qafla, Al-Ashsha, Harf Sufyan through Saada as access to these areas is available from there.
  
• 
  Emergency equipment for Al-Jumhuri Hospital, procured by WHO, has arrived in Saada.
  

• 
  Haradh:
  

• 
  WHO is in the process of rehabilitating and equipping Haradh Hospital through ERF fund.
  
• 
  Due to threatening by IDPs, WHO/MoPHP team in Al-Mazraq Camp 1 is not able to provide services from the health center for the past one week. Mediation is ongoing with GHO of Hajjah governorate and Haradh district to solve the issue and resume team activities as soon as possible.
  
• 
  UNFPA RH medicines procured under CERF funding arrived in Haradh, Saada and Aden. WHO/MoPHP are facilitating distribution of these medicines to target health facilities.
  

• 
  South:
  

• 
  WHO distributed Emergency medications and medical supplies to Al Naser hospital in Al Dhale’a, Al Habileen ,and Ibn Khuldoon hospitals in lahj, and Al Jamhuriah and 22 May hospitals in Aden.
  
• 
  WHO sub-office in Aden sent one IEHK-basic unit kit (for 1000 patient for 3 months) to Al-Nasr general hospital in addition to various dressing materials. (1^st February 2014).
  
• 
  WHO in coordination with MoPH will send soon 2 ICU beds with their accessories to Al-Nasr general hospital.
  

CSSW:

A presentation from their project in Haradh and Mustaba districts, the total Target of beneficiaries from the host community and IDPs: 15, 500 people, the main activity are PHC services; including: clinical, laboratory services, FP, Vaccination, drug supply, Health Education sessions, home visits, training sessions for female volunteers, training sessions for medical staff, advocacy meetings and conduct KAP study.

()

Relief International:

• 
  They have Launched phase 3 of Livestock for Life, it will be implemented with partnership with WHO.
  
• 
  RI is working on 4 proposals all are multi sectoral intervention related to HEALTH / WASH / Shelter, and Nutrition.
  

Targeted groups are 2009 IDPs , new conflict displacement and Marginalized people, in Amran , Taiz , Hodeidah , Hajjah , and Sana'a  Governorates.
ADRA:

They have fully opened their clinic in AlMazraq Camp 3. In AlJwf Governorate, they have been unable to work in AlMutamah district for the last 2 weeks due to problems with the local authority there, as the problem is solved now and they are working in their supported Health Center.

IRC:

They work in the South through an integrated program of Health, WASH and Nutrition. In Aden, they work in Bir Ahmed Health Center as they finished the rehabilitation of the facility and now they are in the process of equipping it. They also work with Community Volunteers in Bir Ahmed to educate the community about the Best Health Practices, as well as awareness sessions in the Schools about the importance of Hand Washing.

In Abyen, they have 2 mobile teams working in Lawder and Modiah districts providing PHC services as well as distributing the RH kits received from UNFPA as they are expanding into 6 new areas in Lawder districts.
NFDHR:

Due to the conflict in the Northern disticts of Amran, the team in Al Ashah district was evacuated, waiting for evaluation of the situation to decide to return back or to work in Bani Suram or Khamer Districts.

UNICEF:

• 
  Preliminary data from EPI 2013 shows Penta3 at 88% which is the highest percentage reached in the last years.
  It was also noted that 75% of all districts reached 80% of coverage.
  
• 
  Sa’ada coverage is still low, around 64% which is lower than last year (>70%).
  
• 
  AlJawf has an increased coverage compared to last year but still low.
  
• 
  There were 5 campaigns against Polio in 2013, 3 national and 2 sub-national, and it’s planned to have the first Campaign of this year in February.
  
• 
  The quality of surveillance was maintained with a non polio AFP Rate of 4.9% per 100,000 children above 15 years( target 2%) and adequacy of stool specimen of 91% ( target over 80%). One case of circulating vaccine derived polio virus was detected in Sahar district of Sa’ada Governorate an indication that pockets of low vaccination coverage exist in Sa'ada.
  

• 
  Situation in the North of the Country:
  

There have been clashes in the north of the country recently people are affected directly and indirectly. In Amran, the clashes took place in the 4 Northern districts Harf Sufian, Huth, AlQaflah and AlAshah. The initial clashes on the 1^st February, caused 47 injuries and 11 deaths.

The Health Cluster responded to the emergency situation in the north as follows:

• 
  WHO with MOPHP, provided 1 trauma kit enough for 100 serious injuries and 5 dressing kits, each is enough for 50 injuries, dispatched to Amran Health Office.
  
• 
  ICRC provided 2 modules of Dressing plus PHC medicines to AlAshah Rural hospital, in addition to 3 modules of dressing and PHC medicines to Alsukibat Health Unit in AlQaflah.
  
• 
  MF France is strongly present in Khamer, supporting the referral system in Khamer hospital as well, in the period between 29^th Jan. To 2^nd Feb., they have received 109 wounded cases in Khamer hospital, in addition to referral services from AlAshah, Alqaflah and Huth via 3 ambulances and they are supporting Huth Health Centre which suspended its activities due to the unstable situation, but will regain the activities soon.
  
• 
  WHO and MOPHP are coordinating to visit Harf Sufian to assess the situation and the health needs in the area, the visit will take place once security allows.
  
• 
  Dr Ghazi Ismail remarked that Amran hospital requested assistance in terms of medical supplies and anesthesia medicines, MOPHP responded and sent supplies from the Emergency department in the ministry, but he requested all NGOs to assist the hospital.
  
• 
  NFDHR were supporting AlAshah health centre, but had to evacuate the team due to the bad security situation.
  
• 
  UNFPA dispatched RH kits to Amran Hospital and Khamer Hospital.
  

• 
  YMCS, in coordination with RI and OCHA, have conducted a rapid assessment for IDPs in Arhab, Raidah, Amran City, and IDPS of Dammaj in Sana’a. The final report to be shared with the cluster partners.
  

• 
  Situation in the south with briefing on Al-Dhale:
  

The recent clashes in AlDhale’a governorate led to several casualties and deaths as well as displacement of families inside AlDhale’a and to neighboring governorates. The Outpatient department in the hospital has been partially damaged but the situation is currently calm. ()
The Health Cluster responded as follows:

• 
  WHO provided trauma kit and IEHK as they were dispatched to AlNaser Hospital in AlDhale’a.
  
• 
  ICRC offered to send a Surgeon to work in AlNaser hospital, but the Manager of the Hospital said they have enough Surgeons.
  
• 
  There is an ambulance Standby in the hospital to transfer patients to Aden, as needed.
  
• 
  MSF Holland is supporting the Emergency Room in AlNaser Hospital as well as the referral services, they had to evacuate due to the unstable security situation, but continued supporting through local staff in the hospital.
  

• 
  Discussion on Health Cluster work plan:
  

As the Health Cluster is in the resource mobilization phase the Strategic objectives and activities are defined in view of priority areas.
Through discussions with the Cluster Core Members, it was suggested to have apply the mixed approached by uploading both the project proposals as well as the Cluster plan for 2014 on the OPS system as it will be another tool for advocacy and resource mobilization, hence it was decided to work on dividing the activities and priority areas based on the capacity of health cluster partners and their operational presence.

This way, we’ll be able to estimate the cost of these activities and divide the funding that will be allocated for the health cluster.

The tool attached, was developed for cluster partners to have a tentative idea about the activities and areas they are interested and have the capacity to work in during 2014. The deadline to fill this template is 20^th Febryuary. ()

• 
  Briefing on eDEWS Program during 2013:
  

• 
  eDEWS is the Electronic Early Warning System that was established in 4 governorates (Aden, Lahj, Abyan, and Taizz) on 1^st March 2013 targeted 94 Health Facilities as sentinel sites, and expanded to include 6 more governorates on November 2013, governorates are, including Sana'a City ,Al-Hodiadah, Ibb , Hajjah, Hadhramwat and Saada, targeted 150 Health Facilities
  

The Objectives of this program are:

• 
  To detect the occurrence of epidemics in its earliest possible stage . The overall goal of eDEWS is to minimize morbidity and mortality due to communicable diseases through detection of potential outbreaks at their earliest possible stage , and to facilitate timely interventions.Details in the attached report ()
  

• 
  AOB:
  

• 
  Dr. Dauod thanked all the attendees for their participation and collaboration.
  
• 
  Dr. Kamal Olleri referred to a request that was from WHO focal point in Sa’ada regarding the referral of Emergency cases need to be referred to Sana’a, as Alsalam hospital in Sa’ada is not able to deal with complicated cases, we are requesting from NGOs who have the ability to refer patients to Sana’a to provide these service.
  
• 
  The Health Cluster, IMMAP and OCHA emphasized on the importance of the continuation of regular SRF reporting for better information sharing.
  

Minutes of Health Cluster Coordination Meeting

^{February 05, 2014}