“The recent escalation of clashes had resulted in substantial damages to the pharmaceutical plants located in rural Aleppo, Homs and Rural Damascus, where 90 per cent of the country’s plants were located,” a WHO spokesperson, Tarik Jasarevic, told reporters in Geneva today. “Many of these plants had now closed down, thus resulting in a critical shortage of medicines.”

Prior to the violence which has wracked the Middle Eastern country, Syria produced 90 per cent of its medicines and drugs locally.

However, this production has slowed down due to insecurity, the decreased availability of raw materials, sanctions and increased fuel costs stemming from the violence that has killed an estimated 17,000 people, mostly civilians, since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 17 months ago.

Over recent days, there have been reports of an escalation in violence in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo, with the latter reportedly the centre of intense combat between Government and opposition forces, involving both aerial bombardments and heavy weaponry.

Among the most urgently needed medicines are drugs to treat tuberculosis, hepatitis, hypertension, diabetes and cancer, as well as haemodialysis for kidney diseases, according to WHO. Chemical reagents for blood screening tests are also urgently needed to ensure the safety and quality of blood used in surgical and trauma cases.

“The health sector had been heavily affected in conflict areas as hospitals and health centres had been closed, damaged or controlled by parties to the conflict,” Jasarevic said. “Public health facilities were often inaccessible due to ongoing violence and lack of public transportation.”

The spokesperson added that the main challenge faced by WHO staff remained unhindered access to those in need. The health agency has been working with Syria’s Ministry of Health, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and partners since the beginning of the conflict to address the health needs of crisis-affected populations.

“This [includes] the provision of ambulances, the refurbishing and equipping of mobile health clinics, and providing medicines and medical supplies for 700,000 people,” Jasarevic said, noting that the Ministry of Health had reported having lost 200 ambulances over the last few weeks.

To ensure access to essential health services – including life-saving medical and surgical services in directly and indirectly affected areas – WHO and its health sector partners are supporting trauma management at primary health care centres and hospitals.

This includes providing support to mobile medical clinics and outreach services, as well as supporting the procurement and provision of hygiene kits, medicines, medical equipment and supplies, among other things.

Addressing reporters at the same media encounter in Geneva, a spokesperson for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Elisabeth Byrs, said that the food relief agency has sent assistance for distribution to 28,000 people in Aleppo over the next few days to address food shortages there.

Since the intensification of clashes in Aleppo in July, WFP has reached close to 46,000 people in the city with urgent food assistance. Overall, during the month of July, WFP’s food assistance reached 541,575 people in most of Syria’s governorates – the agency had aimed to reach 850,000 people, but was prevented from doing so by the violence.

“Following the recent escalation in Damascus on 18 July, it has become extremely difficult to secure trucks for deliveries and labour for packaging,” Byrs said. “Nevertheless, since that date, WFP has managed to dispatch food to close to 228,000 beneficiaries to Aleppo, Damascus, Rural Damascus, Deir Ezzor, Idlib, Quneitra and Tartous, amid increased challenges.”

In line with the target established by the Syrian Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan and following a request from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, WFP aims to reach 850,000 people inside Syria in August.

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Syrian Humanitarian Assistance Response Plan seeks $180 million to cover humanitarian relief activities in Syria. So far, it has received $69 million, or just over 38 per cent of the amount sought.

“If we don’t get more money, people will die and there will be more humanitarian suffering. The needs will continue to grow as long as this conflict continues – that is a sad and tragic truth,” said John Ging, the Director of the Coordination and Response Division of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

To date, the $189 million appeal for assistance for the response inside Syria is 20 per cent funded, while the $193 million appeal for the response to assist refugees in Turkey, Lebanon Jordan and Iraq is also 20 per cent funded.

“To enable humanitarian action in an incredibly difficult, dangerous environment, funding is now the number one priority in terms of unlocking a bigger humanitarian response. That’s both for inside Syria and also for the regional refugee response,” Ging told reporters in Geneva following the fourth meeting of the Syrian Humanitarian Forum.

The forum brought together over 350 participants from Member States, regional organizations, international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and UN humanitarian agencies to mobilize the necessary resources to provide assistance to the hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by the conflict, which began last year as an uprising against President Bashar Al-Assad.

“We came together today in the face of an escalating conflict, which is having the predictable devastating humanitarian and human impact,” said Mr. Ging, who added that insecurity remains a major obstacle to the full implementation of the humanitarian response plan.

He noted that there has been a “significant” scale-up of assistance over the last month, from 500,000 people provided with food assistance last month to an expected 850,000 people this month’ but despite the increase, the situation is deteriorating. “In spite of the scale-up, the gap between the needs and the means is very much still there,” he said.

Ging appealed to the donor community to scale up their donations, stating that 20 per cent funding for both appeals is insufficient.

“We have to be prepared, sadly, for a bigger demand on us collectively as this conflict continues. And we must be motivated by the plight of the Syrian people,” he said. “We cannot become numb to their suffering.”

In a statement issued yesterday, the Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Vijay Nambiar, also highlighted the ongoing suffering of the Syrian people, describing recent reports of sexual violence against women, children and men by Government forces and the armed militias known as the Shabiha, as “alarming.”

He said that the prevailing atmosphere in Syria has enabled perpetrators to commit serious human rights violations, including sexual violence, with impunity. He also stressed the need for these crimes must be fully and independently investigated, and urged the Security Council to use all its tools, including possible referrals to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“A strong signal must go to perpetrators of sexual violence that they will be held accountable for these crimes,” he stated.

Meanwhile, on the political front, the Joint Special Envoy for the UN and the League of Arab States for the Syrian Crisis, Kofi Annan, arrived in Moscow today for two days of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Annan has repeatedly called on the parties to abide by the six-point peace plan he presented several months ago to end the crisis. The plan calls for an end to violence, access for humanitarian agencies to provide relief to those in need, the release of detainees, the start of inclusive political dialogue, and unrestricted access to the country for the international media.