Ukraine War: Surge Expected In COVID-19, Polio, Cholera, Warn Doctors
NDTV
Russia-Ukraine war: The shelling of hospitals has turned the situation grim as availability of medical supplies has been severely hit.
Ukraine has already been battered by the war triggered by Russian invasion. And now, the doctors fear a surge not only in cases of COVID-19, but also other infectious diseases like polio, cholera and measles.
Kate White, an emergency program manager for Doctors Without Borders, told CNN that Ukraine already had low vaccination rates against those diseases.
"In terms of what we call vaccine-preventable diseases, the status in Ukraine was that the population was not vaccinated to the extent which you would get herd immunity like you would in many other European countries or in the US," White said.
She added that the additional strain on Ukraine's healthcare system due to the war will further lead to a huge drop in routine immunisation numbers.
