Cuba, healthcare system in crisis due to fuel shortage

The United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Cuba's healthcare system is in serious crisis. “Cuban hospitals are struggling to maintain emergency and critical care services,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said. “Over the past month, thousands of surgeries have been postponed and medical equipment is without power, putting patients in need of treatment at risk.”

“Health must be protected at all costs and should not be a victim of geopolitical conflict, energy blockades or power outages,” he emphasized.

The crisis comes after Hurricane Melissa affected more than 2.2 million people across Cuba in October. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has announced a revised action plan worth $94 million (approximately KRW 137 billion) to respond to worsening fuel shortages.

Why It Matters: International Sanctions and Humanitarian Impact

Essential services have been disrupted since January this year due to reduced fuel imports. The revised plan aims to support 2 million people, about a fifth of Cuba's population, and while $26 million has been secured to date, a funding gap of $68 million remains.

Response plans focus on maintaining essential services in health, drinking water, food security, and education, as well as alternative energy solutions. From Korea's perspective, there is also a need to keep an eye on the diplomatic implications of discussions on international humanitarian support and the U.S. sanctions policy against Cuba.

Haiti reaches 'catastrophic levels' of gang violence

The UN Human Rights Council examined Haiti's spiraling crisis. According to data from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), at least 5,500 people were killed and 2,600 injured in gang-related violence between March 1, 2025, and January 15, 2026.

Of these, 65% of casualties occurred during security forces operations against gangs. More than a fifth of the victims, including children, were hit by stray bullets at home or on the street.

Nada al-Nasif, the UN's deputy chief human rights representative, described the situation as a "vortex of violence" and called on all governments to fully implement the UN Security Council's arms embargo and block the flow of guns and ammunition into Haiti.

The gangs currently control most of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and are expanding into the outskirts, northern Artibonite and central regions. The violence has left more than 1 million people internally displaced.

Djibouti maritime disaster: 45 migrants missing

The UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that at least nine migrants were killed and 45 were missing after a vessel capsized off the coast of Djibouti.

The ship, believed to be carrying more than 300 people, sank in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait on March 24 while heading to Yemen. According to survivors, most of the passengers were Ethiopian nationals seeking better opportunities in the Gulf country.

“Every life lost at sea is one too many,” said IOM Djibouti representative Tanza Pacifico, warning that the disaster “could be the first of many accidents to occur this year” as monsoons intensify and sea conditions worsen.

So far, the bodies of six men and three women have been recovered, and more than 120 survivors are receiving food, housing, medical and psychosocial services at the Migrant Response Center in Obok.