Preview Newsletter
Humanitarian Issues Media Monitoring 3/24/19
-
Hunger stalks Yemen's remote villages after four years of war
Mar 21, 2019 | Reuters
Four years of conflict have pushed Yemen, which was already one of the poorest Arab states, to the brink of famine. War has cut transport routes for aid, fuel and food, reduced imports and caused severe inflation. Households have lost their incomes because public sector wages are not being paid and conflict has forced people from their homes and jobs. The United Nations says about 80 percent of the population needs some form of humanitarian assistance and two-thirds of all districts in the country are in a “pre-famine” state. -
Ebola Was Confirmed in a Major City in the Congo, Stoking Concerns That the Outbreak Will Keep Spreading
Mar 22, 2019 | TIME
By Jamie Ducharme
A case of Ebola was confirmed in the populous Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) city of Bunia this week, adding to fears that the outbreak there — already the second-worst in history — is far from over. -
Urgent funding needed to meet massive humanitarian needs in Democratic Republic of Congo, UN humanitarian chief and UNICEF Executive Director urge at end of country visit
Mar 21, 2019 | UNICEF
With the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) facing one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock called today for urgent and sustained funding for the Government-led response to meet the needs of children, families and vulnerable communities including people with disabilities. -
WHO reaffirms commitment to Democratic Republic of the Congo as Ebola outbreak nears 1000 cases amid increased violence
Mar 23, 2019 | World Health Organization
As the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approaches 1000 cases amid increased violence, WHO reaffirmed its commitment both to ending the outbreak and working with the government and communities to build resilient health systems. Since the outbreak was declared in August 2018 there have been 993 confirmed and probable cases and 621 deaths in North Kivu and Ituri provinces. -
Hunger, displacement and disease: 4.3 million people remain in dire need of aid in Chad
Mar 22, 2019 | UN News
Violence, displacement and the collapse of basic services have led hundreds of thousands of families, especially the southern half of the country, to be dependent on aid. Humanitarian organizations are working with the Government of Chad to respond to the crisis and gain access to people in need, but insecurity and financial constraints remain major challenges. -
Chad: US$476.6M urgently needed to reach 2M people struggling with hunger, displacement and epidemics
Mar 21, 2019 | Reliefweb
By UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The humanitarian crisis in Chad remain severe, with 4.3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Violence, displacement and lack of essential services have seriously impacted the resilience of already vulnerable populations. Humanitarian organizations are working with the Government of Chad to respond to the crisis and gain access to people in need, but insecurity and financial constraints remain major challenges. -
Diarrhoea kills more children in war zones than war itself – Unicef
Mar 22, 2019 | The Guardian
By Fiona Harvey
Diarrhoea and other diseases related to poor sanitation are bigger killers of children in areas of conflict than violence and war itself, a report has found, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure as a way of helping civilian populations afflicted by warfare.
Yemen
Congo
Chad
Poor Sanitation
-
Hunger stalks Yemen's remote villages after four years of war
Mar 21, 2019 | Reuters
HAJJAH PROVINCE, Yemen (Reuters) - As Yeman’s war grinds into its fifth year with peace efforts stalling, ten-year-old Afaf’s father sees little hope he will be able to give his starving daughter the food or healthcare she needs.
Across Yemen’s remote mountain villages, the country’s war-induced economic crisis has left parents like Hussein Abdu destitute, hungry and watching their children waste away from malnutrition and unclean water.
“Before the war we managed to get food because prices were acceptable and there was work,” 40-year-old Abdu said from al-Jaraib, a small agricultural village in the hills of Hajjah province in northwest Yemen.
“Now they have increased significantly and we rely on yoghurt and bread for nutrition.”
Four years of conflict have pushed Yemen, which was already one of the poorest Arab states, to the brink of famine. War has cut transport routes for aid, fuel and food, reduced imports and caused severe inflation. Households have lost their incomes because public sector wages are not being paid and conflict has forced people from their homes and jobs.
The United Nations says about 80 percent of the population needs some form of humanitarian assistance and two-thirds of all districts in the country are in a “pre-famine” state.
Afaf, who now weighs around 11 kg (24 lb) and is described by her doctor as “skin and bones”, has been left acutely malnourished by a limited diet during her growing years and suffering from hepatitis, likely caused by infected water. She left school two years ago because she got too weak.
“The meaning of being full is not what it was before the war ... If I see some scraps of food are left, I get up so that the children will not be hungry. I can bear the hunger, but they can’t,” said Abdu, who lost one of his two wives, Afaf’s mother, earlier this year to tuberculosis.
With no other source of income to support his second wife and six children, he herds other people’s sheep and takes payment in milk products.
Recognizing the seriousness of Afaf’s condition, Abdu scraped together what resources he could to take his daughter on a long journey to health centers in the regional town of Aslam and then the capital Sanaa.
But the treatment these centers could offer was limited. Yemen’s healthcare system has collapsed and clinics supported by international donors are under severe strain.
After being diagnosed with hepatitis, severe malnutrition, water retention and a wheat allergy, Afaf was given a couple of weeks of care and sent back home in a crowded taxi with two weeks of intravenous medication and a special diet.WATER SCARCE
“If Afaf returns to her house, the problems will inevitably increase,” said Makiah al-Aslami, a nurse and head of the acute malnutrition clinic in Aslam where Afaf received some of her treatment. “The water and the dwelling will have an effect on her health within two days.”
In water-scarce Yemen, with many parts of the country needing pumps to bring water to the surface, water prices have increased dramatically under years of fuel shortages.
In al-Jaraib, well water is available for free. Those who can afford to buy water from tankers which fill up from a pond 7 km (4 miles) from the village.
Abdu said Afaf is to eat only fruit and vegetables and no wheat products.
“By God, if I had anything at all I would have bought her vegetables and fruit but I have nothing,” Abdu said, adding that if his dire situation continues he wont be able to afford her diet or to transport to her one-month check up.
Back in her hillside village of brick and mud structures, where Abdu entertains his and neighboring children by wheeling them around in a wheelbarrow, a fragile Afaf placidly helps her family prepare a simple meal of rice, tomato and bread.
As the children dig into the food with their hands, Afaf alone puts a spoon into a tin of peas provided for her recovery.
Plagued by decades of instability, Yemen’s most recent conflict began in late 2014 when Houthi forces drove the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. A Saudi-backed alliance of Yemeni and Arab forces then intervened in March 2015 to restore Hadi’s government.
The Iran-aligned Houthi movement, which says it is a revolution against corruption, controls Sanaa and most population centers.
The coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is under increased Western pressure to end the war that has killed tens of thousands and sparked what the United Nations says is the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis.
In December, the warring sides reached a deal at U.N.-led peace talks for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal from the main port city of Hodeidah on the Red Sea.
The truce has largely held but the withdrawal has stalled due to mistrust among the parties, risking U.N. efforts to hold further talks to agree a framework for political negotiations to end the war. Violence and displacement also continue in other parts of Yemen not subject to the truce.
In Abdu’s local market, around 6 km from al-Jaraib village in Houthi-controlled Hajjah province, men sell fruit, vegetables, grains and bags of ice hacked off a large block.
“A 5 kg bag of rice cost 1,500 Yemen rials ($2.6 at market exchange rates and $3.4 at central bank rates) before the war, and now costs 3,500 rials,” 45 year-old farmer Ali Ahmad al-Aslami said.
“A 20 kg bag of wheat used to be 6,000 and is now 9,000 rials. All prices have changed, even vegetables. A kilo of tomatoes, which was 100 rials, now costs 500.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hunger/hunger-stalks-yemens-remote-villages-after-four-years-of-war-idUSKCN1R20HA
-
Mar 22, 2019 | TIME
By Jamie Ducharme
A case of Ebola was confirmed in the populous Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) city of Bunia this week, adding to fears that the outbreak there — already the second-worst in history — is far from over.
An infant who died in the Bunia health zone was confirmed this week to have the deadly, highly contagious hemorrhagic fever, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The infant’s parents, however, appear to be in good health, raising questions as to how the baby may have been infected with Ebola.
Most Ebola cases have been recorded in the DRC’s North Kivu and Ituri provinces, in the northeastern part of the country. This is the first case to be confirmed in Bunia, which is located in the Ituri province and is one of the Congo’s largest cities.
“While investigations are ongoing to determine the source of the infection, teams in place have rapidly implemented response activities including contact tracing, vaccination and heightened surveillance,” the WHO says.
Though cases have not been confirmed outside the Congo, continuing geographic spread of Ebola, as well as security issues and conflict in the country, have made it difficult to contain the outbreak, which has sickened nearly 1,000 people and caused 600 deaths since it was officially declared last August. While WHO officials have said the Ebola response appears to be working and the outbreak could be contained by September, projections from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who traveled to the Congo this month, were less optimistic. Redfield said it could take at least a year to get the outbreak under control, STAT reports.
Violence in the Congo, which is in the midst of a long-running humanitarian crisis, has made response efforts particularly difficult. The WHO blamed a recent uptick in cases on “security challenges” and “pockets of community mistrust” toward health workers and outsiders. Attacks on both response workers and treatment centers in the Congo have grown so common that Doctors Without Borders in February shut down a treatment center in the North Kivu city of Katwa, citing security concerns. U.S. government employees were pulled out of the Congo last summer, and have not been a major part of the response effort since.
Nonetheless, health workers continue to respond to new and existing cases of Ebola while attempting to curb its spread, particularly in high-infection areas such as North Kivu and Ituri provinces. Nearly 90,000 people in high-risk areas have received doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine, the WHO says, and treatment centers continue to accept infected patients.
Health officials have said only the West African Ebola outbreak, which killed around 11,000 people between 2014 and 2016, was more severe than the Congo’s current outbreak.
http://time.com/5556796/ebola-bunia-spreading/
-
Mar 21, 2019 | UNICEF
(KINSHASA/NEW YORK, 21 March 2019): With the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) facing one of the largest and most complex humanitarian crises in the world, UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock called today for urgent and sustained funding for the Government-led response to meet the needs of children, families and vulnerable communities including people with disabilities.
“The relatively peaceful political transition taking place in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an opportunity that we must seize on. We can beat back the massive and protracted humanitarian crisis. But we urgently need donors to provide further generous funding as needs continue to outpace resources,” said Mr. Lowcock, adding that DRC needs sustained international engagement to create the conditions for peace, security and long-term development.
While DRC has made progress in recent years in some areas, including a drop in the number of children dying before age 5 and larger numbers being enrolled into school, the overall humanitarian situation remains alarming. The number of people facing hunger jumped from 7.7 million in 2017 to 13 million last year. At least 4 million children are malnourished. Cholera, measles and Ebola continue to blight many lives.
“Severe acute malnutrition is expected to hit 1.4 million children under the age of five this year and put them at imminent risk of death,” said Ms. Fore. “In conflict-affected areas of the country, children and young people have been recruited as fighters, sexually assaulted and denied education, health and protection services. Together, the international community and the new government can – and should – do better for children.”
In Kinshasa, the UN principals held constructive discussions with President Félix Tshisekedi who reiterated the Government’s commitment to leading the humanitarian response across the country. The UN principals expressed the UN’s solidarity with the Congolese people. They also met with Health Minister, Oly Ilunga, to discuss the Ebola outbreak, as well as other diseases such measles, cholera and polio that are affecting the country.
In Goma, in the eastern province of North Kivu, the two officials visited a centre delivering care and assistance to women, including survivors of sexual and gender-based violence. They met with rape survivors who were receiving medical, psychosocial and legal assistance, with support from UNICEF and partners.
In Bunia, Ituri province, Fore and Lowcock visited a site for internally displaced persons, where they met with Janette Dusi Lasi who was wounded and lost her husband when their village was attacked. She now lives in the camp with her four children.
Fore also traveled to Beni and Butembo where she visited Ebola treatment facilities. She then went to day care centres where Ebola survivors, now immune to the virus, look after small children whose mothers are undergoing treatment and who themselves are at risk of developing the disease.
Children account for one third of all Ebola cases – more than in any previous outbreak. Over 1,000 children have been separated from their parents or have been orphaned due to Ebola.
The two officials agreed that successful elimination of the current Ebola outbreak required above all greater and more effective community engagement. “Only if local people are fully involved and consulted can the outbreak be defeated,” said Mr. Lowcock. “That means engaging them actively in the response, as well as doing better to meet their wider needs, on the basis of priorities local people themselves express. Insecurity and the activities of armed groups are a real problem – but what is needed above all is to listen to and work with local people.”
The 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan requires US$1.65 billion to provide 9 million people with life-saving assistance. Of this amount, UNICEF requires $326 million to meet the needs of 4.3 million children. The UN and partners reached 3.5 million people with assistance last year.
“Disease outbreaks, conflict, natural disasters and sexual violence are among the challenges that keep the men, women and children of the DRC from fulfilling their full potential and make the humanitarian crisis in the country so uniquely complex,” Fore and Lowcock said. “We cannot stress enough the critical importance of funding.”https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/urgent-funding-needed-meet-massive-humanitarian-needs-democratic-republic-congo-un
-
Mar 23, 2019 | World Health Organization
As the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) approaches 1000 cases amid increased violence, WHO reaffirmed its commitment both to ending the outbreak and working with the government and communities to build resilient health systems.
Since the outbreak was declared in August 2018 there have been 993 confirmed and probable cases and 621 deaths in North Kivu and Ituri provinces.
“We use words like ‘cases’ and ‘containment’ to be scientific, but behind every number is a person, a family and a community that is suffering,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “This outbreak has gone on far too long. We owe it to the people of North Kivu to work with them in solidarity not only to end this outbreak as soon as possible, but to build the health systems that address the many other health threats they face on a daily basis.”
More than 96 000 people have been vaccinated against Ebola in DRC, along with health workers in Uganda and South Sudan. As of 21 March, 38 of 130 affected health areas have active transmission. More than 44 million border screenings have helped to slow the spread of Ebola in this highly mobile population. No cases have spread beyond North Kivu and Ituri provinces, and no cases have crossed international borders.
However, the risk of national and regional spread remains very high, especially when episodes of violence and instability impact the response.
“As we mourn the lives lost, we must also recognize that thousands of people have been protected from this terrifying disease,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “We are working in exceptionally challenging circumstances, but thanks to support from donors and the efforts of the Ministry of Health, WHO and partners, we have saved thousands of lives.”
WHO has more than 700 people in DRC and is working hard with partners to listen to the affected communities and address their concerns and give them greater ownership of the response, particularly in the current outbreak hotspots of Katwa and Butembo.
“The communities affected by this outbreak are already traumatized by conflict,” said Dr Tedros. ”Their fear of violence is now compounded by fear of Ebola. Community engagement takes time. There are no quick fixes. But we are learning and adapting to the evolving context every day.”
Despite the challenges, most communities accept response interventions. More than 90% of those eligible for vaccination accept it and agree to post-vaccination follow-up visits. Independent analysis of vaccination data indicate that the vaccine is protecting at least 95% of those who receive it in a timely manner. More than 80% of people also accept safe and dignified burials, a key to preventing onward transmission.
“Despite the increased frequency of attacks by armed groups, WHO will stay the course and will work with communities to end this outbreak together with the Ministry of Health and partners,” said Dr Tedros. “We need redoubled support from the international community, and a commitment to push together to bring this outbreak to an end.”
For the next 6 months, the combined financial need for all response partners is at least US$ 148 million. As of 19 March, US$ 74 million had been received.
“We count on donors to help close the funding gap so we can end this outbreak as soon as possible,” said Dr Tedros. “We will still be in DRC long after this outbreak has finished, working with the government and communities on the road to universal health coverage. We are committed to improving the health of the people of DRC now and in years to come.”
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-03-2019-who-reaffirms-commitment-to-the-democratic-republic-of-the-congo-as-ebola-outbreak-nears-1-000-cases-amid-increased-violence
-
Hunger, displacement and disease: 4.3 million people remain in dire need of aid in Chad
Mar 22, 2019 | UN News
Violence, displacement and the collapse of basic services have led hundreds of thousands of families, especially the southern half of the country, to be dependent on aid. Humanitarian organizations are working with the Government of Chad to respond to the crisis and gain access to people in need, but insecurity and financial constraints remain major challenges.
Bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger – and despite poverty and under-development – Chad has also over the past decade welcomed refugees fleeing attacks from non-state armed groups and displacement by extreme hunger in the arid region known as the Sahel.
“Chad, welcoming land and island of stability in a troubled sub-region, needs the renewed generosity of donors,” said Stephen Tull, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Chad, in the foreword of the 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP). “I call on the international community to continue supporting the country so that humanitarian challenges can be addressed in an effective and coordinated manner.”
According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), although food insecurity has decreased by 18 per cent in 2019 due to a good agricultural season, 3.7 million people face food insecurity, and 2.2 million people suffer from malnutrition, a 29 per cent increase compared to last year over the same period. The nutritional situation is critical for 350,000 children, a 59 per cent increase compared to last year.
Over the coming year, the HRP – which includes the provision of shelter, food, nutrition support, safe water and sanitation services, health care, and basic education for 2 million people – and will aim to achieve three key objectives: save lives and preserve the dignity of the affected people; reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience; ensure the protection of the most at-risk.
To date, more than half of the 650,000 people displaced are women and girls, and the conflict around the Lake Chad region is forcing many more into displacement regularly. In addition, Chad is hosting 450,000 refugees from neighbouring countries, putting an additional strain on host communities.
“I fled three years ago,” said Ashta, a displaced woman interviewed by OCHA in the Yakoua camp for displaced persons, near Bol. “We walked for four or five days to arrive here. There were many of us. I didn’t even have clothes on me. The village that hosted us provided us with food and clothes. Where I lived before, I had gardens, 60 mango trees and corn fields, but I had to leave everything behind. When the attack happened, I even left barefoot.”
The collapse of health services, exacerbated by under-development and low immunization rates, means that close to 2 million people have very limited access to health care. The country is facing a measles epidemic, and remains exposed to cholera and hepatitis E outbreaks in neighbouring Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.
Across all sectors of the response, emergency humanitarian programmes will be closely linked with longer-term development interventions to ensure that the solutions provided by international aid are durable and address the root causes of the conflict.
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035211
-
Mar 21, 2019 | Reliefweb
By UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
The humanitarian crisis in Chad remain severe, with 4.3 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Violence, displacement and lack of essential services have seriously impacted the resilience of already vulnerable populations. Humanitarian organizations are working with the Government of Chad to respond to the crisis and gain access to people in need, but insecurity and financial constraints remain major challenges.
The humanitarian community in Chad is requesting US$476.6 million to reach 2 million of the most vulnerable people amid high levels of food insecurity and malnutrition, displacement and epidemics. These crises combined have increased the vulnerability of millions of people who are already faced with low local development and poverty, which affects communities' resilience.
https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/chad-us4766m-urgently-needed-reach-2m-people-struggling-hunger-displacement-and
-
Diarrhoea kills more children in war zones than war itself – Unicef
Mar 22, 2019 | The Guardian
By Fiona Harvey
Diarrhoea and other diseases related to poor sanitation are bigger killers of children in areas of conflict than violence and war itself, a report has found, highlighting the need for improved infrastructure as a way of helping civilian populations afflicted by warfare.
Children under five are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrhoeal diseases than from direct violence, according to Unicef. Henrietta Fore, the organisation’s executive director, said: “The reality is there are more children who die from lack of access to safe water than by bullets.”
Women and children, who tend to be responsible for fetching water, are often unable to reach clean water sources in situations of conflict, while sometimes armed forces deliberately target water supplies and sanitation as weapons of war. Forces can also cut off the power that keeps vital infrastructure such as water pumps working, and conflict prevents maintenance personnel from making repairs.
War also makes it harder for supplies of products needed to purify water or used in sanitation, such as chlorine and other cleaners, to get through to where they are needed.
These factors add up to often neglected disasters that accompany protracted conflicts, with children bearing the brunt, according to a Unicef report, Water Under Fire, published on Friday to coincide with World Water Day. The report examined in detail 16 countries undergoing long civil wars and other conflicts.
Fore called for an end to the deliberate targeting of water infrastructure, including attacks by governments, and for the international community to prioritise water and sanitation in its response to conflicts. “The odds are already stacked against children living through prolonged conflicts, with many unable to reach a safe water source,” she said. “Deliberate attacks on water and sanitation are attacks on vulnerable children. Water is a basic right. It is a necessity for life.”
The report drew on countries including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Children aged up to 15 were found to be more likely to die from water-related diseases than as a result of direct violence in all the countries studied except for Libya, Iraq and Syria.
Megan Wilson-Jones, a senior policy analyst for health and hygiene at the charity WaterAid, said: “The findings of the report are tragic. Diarrhoea caused by dirty water and a lack of sanitation contributes to the death of a child under five every two minutes.
“Ensuring good water, sanitation and hygiene is essential to the health of children in every setting, including as part of humanitarian emergency responses.”
At least 4 billion people live in water-scarce areas, where for at least part of the year demand outstrips supply, and 844 million lack access to safe water close to home.
Water scarcity is no longer just a problem for developing countries, as climate change, population increases, water wastage and increasing demand from agriculture and industry mean water supplies in large areas of the developed world are also coming under pressure. Earlier this week, the head of the UK’s environment agency warned England would face “the jaws of death”, running out of water within 25 years if nothing were done to halt demand growth and waste.
Unicef’s findings came as a separate report, also focused on World Water Day, showed international businesses are continuing to drain global water supplies, even as they acknowledge the risks and potential negative impacts of doing so. CDP, an organisation focusing on measuring companies’ environmental impacts, looked at some of the world’s 300 biggest publicly listed companies and found roughly one-third are using more water than three years ago.
Cate Lamb, the director of water security at CDP, said more companies must show leadership if the world is not to face a worsening problem. “The world is not on track to meet our global water goal [under the UN’s sustainable development goals] of ensuring access to sustainable water and sanitation for all,” she said.
“The companies reporting to CDP are responsible for a huge proportion of global water use and pollution. While many of their practices and procedures currently contribute to the depletion of freshwater resources, these companies could also hold the key to a water-secure future.”
WaterAid also pointed to the indirect use of water, which many people are unaware of, as key to solving the world’s water and sanitation crises. Although 4 billion people globally live in water-scarce areas, a numberexpected to rise to 5 billion by the middle of this century, many of these regions effectively export water in the form of agricultural goods from avocados to cotton. High consumption of these goods in buyer countries can lead to worsening problems for people in the exporting countries.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/mar/22/diarrhoea-kills-more-children-in-war-zones-than-war-itself-unicef
Yemen
Congo
Chad
Poor Sanitation
Add recipients
Suggested