TEHRAN –The World Health Organization (WHO) has donated four trauma and emergency surgery kits (TESKs) to health centers in vulnerable provinces to enhance disaster and emergency preparedness in the face of health emergencies.

Supported by funding from European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), each kit contains medicines and equipment to perform 100 surgeries, enabling 400 emergency surgeries across Sistan-Baluchestan, Hormozgan, Kerman, and Khorasan Razavi provinces, the UN website announced in a press release on December 9.

According to the International Disaster Database, since 2023, out of 12 natural disasters in the Islamic Republic of Iran meeting the criteria for database registration, 7 were reported in provinces covered by the project, including 4 hydrological disasters (floods), 2 meteorological events (storms) and 1 geophysical occurrence (earthquake).

Limited access to emergency care in the target provinces – among the biggest in the country, they contain a large number of refugees who either live there or travel through the provinces to reach other areas – has led to high fatality and injury rates among affected populations.