Preview Newsletter
Humanitarian Issues Media Monitoring 3/31/19
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UN officials: 13 million in Congo need aid in major increase
Mar 25, 2019 | Washington Post
By Edith M. Lederer
The number of people needing humanitarian aid in Congo has increased dramatically in the past year to 13 million and “hunger and malnutrition have reached the highest level on record,” the head of the U.N. children’s agency said Monday. -
As Syria conflict enters ninth year, humanitarian crisis ‘far from over’, Security Council hears
Mar 27, 2019 | UN News
Eight years ago this month, the Syria conflict began, leading to a humanitarian crisis that remains “far from over”, the UN Security Council heard on Wednesday. 11.7 million need humanitarian assistance and protection, and more than 5.6 million Syrians are living as refugees across the region. -
A humanitarian crisis emerges as ISIS falls in northern Syria
Mar 27, 2019 | National Geographic
By Lynsey Addario
The International Rescue Committee estimated that more than 5,000 women and children, fleeing the fighting between Syrian forces and remnants of the Islamic State, arrived at al-Hol camp in one 48 period in early March. Since December, nearly 60,000 have arrived at the camp, pushing the camp to its breaking point, aid workers have said. About 100, mostly children, have died either en route to the camp or shortly after arriving, due to acute malnutrition, pneumonia, hypothermia, and diarrhea, according to the International Rescue Committee. These new refugees join more than 65 million refugees worldwide, now more than at any time since World War II, according to the United Nations. -
'Worst humanitarian disaster': Cholera cases rise to 139 after Mozambique cyclone
Mar 29, 2019 | SBS News
Mozambique has confirmed 139 cases of cholera in the wake of a tropical cyclone that hit the southern African nation and killed more than 460 people. -
Cholera is spreading in Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Idai
Mar 29, 2019 | Vox
By Brian Resnick and Julia Belluz
It’s been three weeks since a fierce tropical cyclone tore through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, killing hundreds and leaving 600,000 people displaced. Now, as cholera begins to spread among the victims of Cyclone Idai, relief workers are worried a “second disaster” is on the horizon. -
Yemeni Aid Worker: "We Need Safety, We Need This Conflict to End"
Mar 29, 2019 | Reliefweb
By Action Against Hunger USA
After four years of conflict, living conditions in Yemen continue to deteriorate. As safety and security decline, families struggle each day to find the basic items they need to survive. Action Against Hunger is on the front lines, responding to what the United Nations has called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” -
South Sudan lawmaker, two others killed in ambush
Mar 27, 2019 | Reuters
One South Sudanese lawmaker and two security personnel were killed in an ambush in the north-east of the country while returning from a peace mission, a ruling party spokesman said on Wednesday. -
1 in 4 people near Congo's Ebola outbreak believe virus isn't real, new study says
Mar 29, 2019 | ABC News
By Morgan Winsor
A quarter of people interviewed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo last year during the ongoing Ebola outbreak believed the deadly virus wasn't real, according to a new study. -
Ebola disbelief widespread in DR Congo hotspots
Mar 28, 2019 | BBC
More than a quarter of people surveyed in Ebola-hit areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo told researchers they do not believe the disease exists. -
Congo registers record 15 new Ebola cases in one day
Mar 29, 2019 | Reuters
Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday recorded 15 new confirmed cases of Ebola, the biggest one-day rise since the current outbreak was declared last August, the health ministry said.
Congo
Syria
Mozambique
Yemen
South Sudan
Congo
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UN officials: 13 million in Congo need aid in major increase
Mar 25, 2019 | Washington Post
By Edith M. Lederer
UNITED NATIONS — The number of people needing humanitarian aid in Congo has increased dramatically in the past year to 13 million and “hunger and malnutrition have reached the highest level on record,” the head of the U.N. children’s agency said Monday.
UNICEF’s Executive Director Henrietta Fore told a news conference that 7.5 million of those needing aid are children, including 4 million suffering from acute malnutrition and over 1.4 million from severe acute malnutrition “which means that they are in imminent risk of death.”
U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock, who just returned from a visit to Congo with Fore, said the U.N. is appealing for $1.65 billion in humanitarian aid for the country this year — more than double the $700 million plus that it raised last year to help 8.5 million people.
He said the worsening humanitarian situation is the result of economic stresses including volatility in commodity prices and the turbulent political situation surrounding December’s elections, compounded by violence, increased displacement and the world’s second-largest Ebola outbreak.
Fore added that farmers fleeing with their families and drought in some areas also contributed.
She said the difficulty is that last year’s U.N. appeal was only half funded, and if that same amount is contributed this year it will only be a quarter of this year’s appeal, “and the needs are immense.”
Fore cited more grim statistics: 2 million people were newly displaced last year; 7.3 million children are out of school; 300,000 children die each year before their fifth birthday; 3 in 10 women are reported to be victims of sexual violence; and in January alone there were 7,000 cases of measles and 3,500 cases of cholera.
Congo’s Health Ministry said Monday that the Ebola epidemic has now exceeded 1,000 cases, with a death toll of 629.
Fore said about 30 percent of the cases are children, and UNICEF has identified about 1,000 children who have been orphaned or left unaccompanied while their parents are isolated in Ebola treatment wards.
UNICEF and its partners are providing psycho-social support, food and material assistance to the children, she said.
In the major city of Bunia close to the epidemic’s center, Fore said U.N. and Red Cross officials visited a kindergarten where Ebola survivors who cannot get the virus were caring for orphaned and unaccompanied children.
The U.N. officials also visited Goma, Beni and Butembo and the capital Kinshasa where Lowcock said they had “extremely constructive talks” with Congo’s new president, Felix Tshisekedi.
“We were encouraged by the new president” who said he would like to work closely with the U.N. on humanitarian issues and problems related to the millions of displaced people, the undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs said.
“Congo is a country where progress is possible,” Lowcock said, pointing to lower infant mortality, more children in school and Kinshasa becoming a modern African capital.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/un-officials-13-million-in-congo-need-aid-in-major-increase/2019/03/25/1981fc18-4f5c-11e9-bdb7-44f948cc0605_story.html?utm_term=.0e678a7f3ff1
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As Syria conflict enters ninth year, humanitarian crisis ‘far from over’, Security Council hears
Mar 27, 2019 | UN News
Although fighting in the country has diminished, a growing number of civilians have been killed or injured in recent weeks.
Rosemary DiCarlo, head of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, and Ramesh Rajasingham, a senior director at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), briefed Council members, highlighting the escalating violence in the last rebel-held enclave of Idlib, and the surrounding areas of north-west Syria.
Ms. DiCarlo described reports of artillery, mortar exchanges and airstrikes; as well as rocket attacks and raids which are putting a strain, she said, on a 2018 agreement between Russia and Turkey to limit military operations in the area, which created a buffer zone between opposition fighters and Syrian Government forces and their allies.‘Alarming spike in civilian casualties’, displacement
Mr Rajasingham told the council that the region has seen an “alarming spike in civilian casualties: “last month alone, 90 people were killed, of whom nearly half were children. At least 86,000 people have also reportedly been displaced by this latest upsurge of violence. Health facilities, including a hospital in Saraqeb city, which had been deconflicted with the parties through established procedures, and schools, are reported to have been hit.”
Regarding last week’s capture – by Syrian Democratic Forces backed by a US-led coalition – of the last remaining territory held by the terror group ISIL, Ms. DiCarlo warned that ISIL still poses a threat, and that thousands of civilians fleeing military operations against the group have found their way to al Hol, a refugee camp in Hasakah province: more than 140 of them died on the way to the camp, or once they arrived there.
There are now 72,000 people living in al Hol, with thousands more on the way, and there is, said the Peacebuilding chief, a desperate need to maintain and ramp up the humanitarian response. However, she noted that the UN is still awaiting approval from the Syrian Government for humanitarian access for a third convoy of life-saving assistance.
Expanding on conditions in al Hol, Mr. Rajasingham said that many newcomers have arrived following gruelling journeys of hundreds of kilometres in open trucks, after prolonged exposure to intense hostilities, extreme deprivation and human rights abuses under ISIL rule. Many show signs of distress, and are suffering from trauma injuries, malnutrition and fatigue.
Mr. Rajasingham concluded with a call for continued international engagement to allow the UN to continue running “one of the largest and most complex aid operations ever implemented,” whilst Ms. DiCarlo reminded Council members, “on this grim anniversary,” that the UN Secretary-General has said that it is a “moral obligation and a political imperative for the international community to support Syrians to unite around a vision that addresses the root causes of the conflict and forges a negotiated political solution.”
https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/03/1035611
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A humanitarian crisis emerges as ISIS falls in northern Syria
Mar 27, 2019 | National Geographic
By Lynsey Addario
An endless stream of disheveled and disoriented women and children poured out of the backs of trucks at al-Hol refugee camp in Hasakeh province in northeastern Syria. Many were the wives and children of fighters for the Islamic State, and were among the most recent wave to surrender or escape from the last of ISIS’ strongholds in Baghouz, in Syria’s Deir Ezzour province.
The women had traveled for hours with their children, and whatever little remained of their dusty possessions collected in military-style packs, plastic bags, and rolling suitcases. From beneath black veils covering their hair and faces, and long, black formless sheaths commonly worn in places which observe a more conservative interpretation of Islam, some were carried out on stretchers semi-conscious, some on rudimentary wheelchairs; some arrived walking and defiant, some relieved. Everyone was exhausted and hungry.
The International Rescue Committee estimated that more than 5,000 women and children, fleeing the fighting between Syrian forces and remnants of the Islamic State, arrived at al-Hol camp in one 48 period in early March. Since December, nearly 60,000 have arrived at the camp, pushing the camp to its breaking point, aid workers have said. About 100, mostly children, have died either en route to the camp or shortly after arriving, due to acute malnutrition, pneumonia, hypothermia, and diarrhea, according to the International Rescue Committee. These new refugees join more than 65 million refugees worldwide, now more than at any time since World War II, according to the United Nations.
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces claimed victory in late March over the last remaining sliver of land controlled by the brutal Islamic state in the town of Baghuz, as tens of thousands of the fighters’ family members have surrendered through a human corridor set up by the SDF during the past six weeks under heavy bombardment and intense clashes. Women and children, most of whom continued to pledge their unwavering support of ISIS, and some who were likely being used as human shields, had been living in tunnels and caves with limited food, medicine, and sanitation.
International, national, and government organizations scrambled to accommodate the spontaneous humanitarian crisis—and no one was prepared for the state of desperation in which they arrived in droves. The question of what to do with many of these women and children, given their fierce loyalty to the Islamic state, and their utter radicalized interpretation of Islam loomed large. (See life among the rubble in postwar Aleppo.)
The children sank into the shells of their bodies, their eyes were empty, glazed with trauma and hunger and confusion. Dust and dirt caked their little boney frames. Despite the desperate scene, many of the women still promoted the virtues of the Islamic State, and mourned its nearing end. From the Russian Caucuses, Kyrgistan, Iraq, Syria, Finland, France, the England, and others—including the United States—some women still ruminated on the early days of ISIS, and wondered when and how the Caliphate may appear again in some form in the future.
“When I first arrived in the caliphate, life was normal, and it was good.” explained Sanaa, 47, from Helsinki, Finland. “My children went to school, we had a normal life. But about a year and a half later, the bombing started, and everything got more difficult.” Sanaa’s only visible skin was through the thin slit around her tired, glassy eyes, and her weather-beaten hands. She left Finland to live in the caliphate four years ago with her Moroccan husband, and stayed there four years, where she gave birth to the youngest of her four children. Her 13 year-old daughter is married. (Read about child marriage practices around the world.)
“I want to say to my mother to please contact the Red Cross or government or somebody to take us out of here. We want to come back to Finland and live there. I have been 4.5 years. I have four children. Now I regret why I came here because this is really not nice. I don’t want this any more, but I cannot change history.”
Miriam, 29, from the Russian Caucases, has three gaunt children with thinning hair—signs of severe malnutrition. Her youngest, one-year old Fatima watched carefully as her mother removed a piece of bread out of a plastic bag just distributed by aid agencies. Listless, Fatima was too malnourished to cry, scream, or to even reach for the bread. She was like so many of the other children who limped out of ISIS’ Baghouz.
Most children of war are forced to take on responsibilities as little more than toddlers. They don’t go to school; they don’t play in playgrounds or learn how to socialize; they don’t laugh and collapse into giggles as children often do. They just sit, expressionless and listless, visibly traumatized, human windows into what one can only imagine they have already witnessed in their tender years. At 7 years old, their lives are often relegated to caring for younger siblings: changing diapers, consoling, looking out for them. Their youth has been robbed, and left in a sliver of Syria their parents revered.
On the outskirts of Baghouz, a 2 or 3 year-old Syrian boy with a patch over his eye clung to his mother as he sat in the back of a metal container-like truck, waiting to be transported to al-Hol camp with a new batch of ISIS sympathizers. A bullet had gone through his eye, and out his neck, his mother explained. She didn’t want to give details about her son. Her child was just one more casualty of this war.
What will happen to the women and children of ISIS fighters, who have been brainwashed and blinded by years of radicalization? Many countries have said they will revoke their citizenship, and not allow them home again. Stateless, and without the possibility of embracing a more moderate version of Islam, these tens of thousands of women and children seem more dangerous than ever.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/03/humanitarian-crisis-isis-families-flee-to-syrian-refugee-camp/
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'Worst humanitarian disaster': Cholera cases rise to 139 after Mozambique cyclone
Mar 29, 2019 | SBS News
The number of confirmed cholera cases in cyclone-ravaged Mozambique climbed sharply to 139 Thursday as authorities prepared to roll out a mass vaccination campaign to stem the spread of the deadly disease.
"The total number of cholera cases is now 139," government health officer Ussein Isse told AFP.
President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday told a news conference authorities had called off rescue operations for victims of the deadly cyclone which tore through the central parts of the country on March 15.
He described it as the "worst humanitarian disaster in Mozambique".
The storm killed at least 468 people and affected 1.85 million.
He said 945 rescuers had taken part in the two-week long search and rescue operation.
"We thank all of them. They are heroes," he said.
World Health Organization official David Wightwick said mass cholera vaccinations would start next week.
The country is awaiting the delivery of 900,000 doses of vaccines expected in the country on Monday.
Officials said the vaccination campaign will be launched from Wednesday to stem the spread of the disease, which thrives in conditions of poor hygiene and causes acute diarrhoea that can be fatal if untreated.
Wightwick told reporters in Beira that nine cholera treatment centres were being set up around the central Sofala province, which bore the brunt of the cyclone.
The UN said in a statement that authoritities have already reported "some 2,500 cases of acute watery diarrhoea".900,000 vaccine doses
Experts have warned that the destruction of drinking water sources and lack of sanitation in overcrowded shelters in Mozambique could create breeding grounds for waterborne diseases such as cholera.
The vaccinations will protect the tens of thousands of survivors for around three months, he said.
"It buys us some time and it means we will probably have to do a further vaccination," Wightwick said.
"The first objective is to control the outbreak," he said, warning that "there are other places that remain cut off".
A cholera prevention publicity campaign has also been launched with messages via radio and loudhailers across affected towns and villages.
Cyclone Idai smashed into Mozambique nearly two weeks ago, unleashing hurricane-force winds and heavy rains.
It flooded much of the centre of the poor southern African country and then battered eastern Zimbabwe and Malawi.
UNICEF warned that there is "very little time to prevent the spread of opportunistic diseases".
It warned in a statement that current conditions of "stagnant waters, lack of hygiene, decomposing bodies (and) overcrowding in temporary shelters" could lead to outbreaks of diarrhoea, malaria and cholera, "to which children are especially vulnerable".
"The lives of millions of children and families are on the line, and we urgently need to mount a rapid and effective humanitarian response," said UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore.
She launched a $122 million (108 million euro) appeal for the three affected neighbouring countries.
"The massive scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Idai is becoming clearer by the day," she said.
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/worst-humanitarian-disaster-cholera-cases-rise-to-139-after-mozambique-cyclone
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Cholera is spreading in Mozambique in the wake of Cyclone Idai
Mar 29, 2019 | Vox
By Brian Resnick and Julia Belluz
It’s been three weeks since a fierce tropical cyclone tore through Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, killing hundreds and leaving 600,000 people displaced.
Now, as cholera begins to spread among the victims of Cyclone Idai, relief workers are worried a “second disaster” is on the horizon.
Cholera is an often-deadly intestinal disease caused by drinking water or food tainted with sewage and human waste carrying the bacteria Vibrio cholerae. Reports indicate that there are 139 cases of cholera in the port city Beira, Mozambique, and that number is expected to rise (no cases have been reported yet in Zimbabwe or Malawi). There are no confirmed deaths from cholera so far.
If V. cholerae starts spreading, it can be difficult to control. Outbreaks usually happen when a country’s health, hygiene, and water systems break down — and that’s why they can appear after a natural disaster or amid a humanitarian crisis. (It happened in the 2010 earthquake in Haiti. It’s happening right now in Yemen.)
Not everyone who gets cholera gets gravely ill, but about one in 10 experience the profuse, watery diarrhea and vomiting that can lead to dehydration, and sometimes death.
The good news is that if people are treated quickly with rehydration solutions (and sometimes, antibiotics), cholera is survivable. After treatment, the death rate drops from 50 percent to less than 1 percent. There are also effective cholera vaccines.
In response to the current crisis in Mozambique, the World Health Organization reports it is sending 900,000 doses of cholera vaccine to the region, and has set up seven treatment centers in Mozambique. Relief workers will now be scrambling to contain this outbreak, and prevent other water-borne diseases from spreading, before it balloons into an epidemic.The humanitarian crisis in Mozambique is immense
On March 15, Cyclone Idai brought intense, flooding rain and an estimated 13 feet of deadly storm surge to some coastal areas in Mozambique. The result of all that water: An “inland ocean” formed near Beira. It was a huge amount of water, measuring around 80 miles long by 15 miles wide. (The WHO is also “preparing for a spike in malaria,” as mosquitos flourish in the water-soaked ruins of communities.)
The disease threat underscores the scale of the humanitarian crisis unfolding in the region. Across Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi, more than 100,000 people lost their homes and all of their possessions in the storm. Beira, Mozambique, suffered the brunt of the storm, with relief workers reporting that the city of 400,000 people was 90 percent destroyed. The official death toll in Mozambique is 468, but it could climb higher. (There were 259 deaths in Zimbabwe, and 56 in Malawi). Additionally, 91,000 homes were destroyed in Mozambique, the UN reports, and 128,000 people are living in shelters.
Making matters worse “Cyclone Idai’s wreckage came on top of an already serious food insecurity situation in Mozambique,” the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, reports. “From September to December 2018, an estimated 1.78 million people... were severely food insecure in the country.” Those problems are now exacerbated by the storm. The United Nations World Food Programme has classified the situation in Mozambique as its highest-level emergency.
And that brings us back to cholera spreading in Beira.
“Malnutrition and cholera are interconnected,” Jamie McGoldrick, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen told the Washington Post. “Weakened and hungry people are more likely to contract cholera and cholera is more likely to flourish in places where malnutrition exists.”
You can help the victims of Cyclone Idai by donating to UNICEF, the International Medical Corps, Global Giving’s relief fund, Save the Children, the Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services, or Doctors Without Borders.
https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/3/29/18287342/mozambique-cyclone-idai-cholera-how-to-help
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Yemeni Aid Worker: "We Need Safety, We Need This Conflict to End"
Mar 29, 2019 | Reliefweb
By Action Against Hunger USA
After four years of conflict, living conditions in Yemen continue to deteriorate. As safety and security decline, families struggle each day to find the basic items they need to survive. Action Against Hunger is on the front lines, responding to what the United Nations has called “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”
Across four regions of Yemen, our teams are working in approximately 60 health facilities. We are:
Treating acute malnutrition in stabilization centers and through home-based care;
Providing essential medical treatments and supporting medical staff more broadly;
Rehabilitating water points and latrines, promoting healthy hygiene, and distributing hygiene kits; and
Providing immediate support vulnerable displaced families through cash-transfers to cover basic food needs.
“A CRISIS OF ACCESS”
The protracted conflict in Yemen has severely complicated our operations, especially when it comes to supporting people in the hardest-to-reach communities.
“This crisis is a crisis of access, or rather of lack of access,” says Isabelle Moussard Carlsen, Director of Operations for Action Against Hunger’s France office. “Yemeni people no longer have access to adequate health care, food, or safe drinking water. Humanitarian workers do not have access to intervene or meet the scale of needs. The crisis in Yemen … impacts the daily lives of women, men, and children, who are deprived of everything.”
Aid organizations, including Action Against Hunger, are concerned about the continued shrinking of humanitarian space.
Administrative obstructions – such as requests from authorities to share data on the people we serve or interventions in internal procedures – are common intimidation practices that impede our ability to deliver humanitarian aid in a timely manner. Our teams continue to face challenges in obtaining visas for international staff. In addition, limitations are imposed on national aid workers, restricting travel. These obstructions delay delivery of essential and lifesaving humanitarian services.
Yemeni civilians must be allowed to access assistance quickly, safely, and without conditions. Action Against Hunger urges the international community to support measures that protect Yemeni civilians and to pressure their allies to find a peaceful political solution to the conflict.
“What we really hope for the people of Yemen is that the ceasefire will hold and that all parties will stick to the terms of the agreement and make peace last,” says Véronique Andrieux, Executive Director of Action Against Hunger’s France office.
“IT HAS TURNED THE COUNTRY UPSIDE DOWN”
Action Against Hunger in Yemen is powered by a team of about 270 people, most of whom are Yemeni. Many have experienced the devastating effects of conflict first-hand.
In his own words, a member of our water and sanitation team, Mohammed,* writes of his family’s displacement:
I am from Arat district, the first district exposed to the conflict in Yemen. The conflict started without any warning. It was shocking, and it surprised everybody.
The first people displaced were from Arat, and my family was among them. We left with only our clothes; we did not take any of our belongings, furniture or jewelry. The airstrikes made us fear for our lives.
We settled in Hodeidah. It was hard for me to provide for them. We are three families: my immediate family (my wife and daughters), and my sisters and their families. A major consequence of the conflict was a salary cut for state workers. My sisters were state employees, so I am now the only one able to take care of the family's needs. My mother has chronic diseases and needs medicine weekly, and I also cover these expenses.
After a year or two, we were surprised to see the conflict extending to southern districts, until it reached Hodeidah. When the intense airstrikes and clashes reached the outskirts of Hodeidah, my family started to panic.
I moved my mother, my sisters, and their families to Hajjah, and I took my wife and daughters to Sana’a. Due to the huge displacement wave to Sana’a, there is a real estate crisis and I am still looking for an apartment. Everything suddenly became very expensive: apartments, rent, food…There are no salaries and, at the same time, there is a catastrophic increase in food prices. I know families who live in shelters and only eat once a day.
My son-in-law was a rich man in Arat. Suddenly he had to take his family to Hodeidah and had to sell everything he owned. His children cannot go to school because they had to move several times. His family could not stay in Hajjah, because of the cost of shelter and food, so they moved to Abs, where they got some aid from humanitarian workers and organizations.
We need safety, we need this conflict to end. It has turned the country upside down and disturbed everything. If there is security, there is food, psychological stability, hospitals working, salaries running, and health facilities providing care.
* name has been changed
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemeni-aid-worker-we-need-safety-we-need-conflict-end
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South Sudan lawmaker, two others killed in ambush
Mar 27, 2019 | Reuters
JUBA (Reuters) - One South Sudanese lawmaker and two security personnel were killed in an ambush in the north-east of the country while returning from a peace mission, a ruling party spokesman said on Wednesday.
South Sudan, the world’s youngest nation, has been racked by civil war since 2013, when President Salva Kiir’s troops clashed with forces loyal to Riek Machar, the former vice president.
Kiir, Machar and other rebel factions signed an accord last September, halting the fighting.
Peter Lam Both, spokesman for Kiir’s SPLM party, said the incident had happened late on Tuesday when a group of lawmakers were attacked by fighters of the White Army militia in a village in Latjor state in a region formerly called Upper Nile.
The White Army is part of SPLA-IO, the armed wing of Machar’s SPLM-IO party.
Spokesman Both said the members of parliament had been sent by the SPLM Party to visit their constituencies to explain the peace deal to citizens.
“The MPs from Latjor state went to Mandeng and the meeting organized between the leadership of the SPLA-IO...and had a very good discussion with the Governor of the SPLM-IO,” Both said.
“After the meeting, they went back to their boat and were ambushed on the way and Hon. Simon Deng and two other people were killed and two others wounded,” Both told Reuters.
Lam Paul Gabriel, opposition deputy military spokesman rejected the suggestion of White Army involvement.
“That is anti-peace language, we were all attacked by criminals, these are not White Army. I totally deny that,” he said.
South Sudan’s civil war, often fought along ethnic lines, has crippled oil production, forced millions to flee and killed some 400,000 people.
Previous peace deals have quickly fallen apart.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-southsudan-unrest/south-sudan-lawmaker-two-others-killed-in-ambush-idUSKCN1R81UY
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1 in 4 people near Congo's Ebola outbreak believe virus isn't real, new study says
Mar 29, 2019 | ABC News
By Morgan Winsor
A quarter of people interviewed in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo last year during the ongoing Ebola outbreak believed the deadly virus wasn't real, according to a new study.
A survey was conducted last September, one month after the country declared its 10th outbreak of the Ebola virus disease. Researchers interviewed 961 adults in the cities of Beni and Butembo in the North Kivu province, which is at the epicenter of the active outbreak.
More than 25 percent of respondents said they believed rumors Ebola doesn't exist. Additionally, some 33 percent said they believed the outbreak was fabricated by authorities for financial gains, while 36 percent said they believed it was fabricated to destabilize the region. Nearly a fifth believed all three statements, according to the study published Wednesday in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
"Medical responses alone are not enough to stop the spread of Ebola," Dr. Patrick Vinck of Harvard University, who led the research, said in a statement Thursday.
The ever-growing Ebola outbreak is one of the worst in recorded history, second only to the the 2014-2016 plague in multiple West African nations that infected 28,652 people and killed 11,325, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A total of 1,044 people have reported symptoms of hemorrhagic fever in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's northeastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri since Aug. 1, according to Thursday night's bulletin from the country's health ministry. Among those cases, 978 have tested positive for Ebola, which causes an often-fatal type of hemorrhagic fever.
There have been 652 deaths so far, including 586 people who died from confirmed cases of Ebola, per the bulletin, and the other deaths are from probable cases.
"Before being a public health emergency, an Ebola epidemic is above all a human and social tragedy," the health minister, Dr. Oly Ilunga Kalenga, said in a statement Sunday. "Behind these numbers are several hundred Congolese families directly affected by the virus and hundreds of orphans."
More than 40 percent of new cases since the start of the year are of people who died in the community rather than in a treatment center, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), which recently suspended its activities in the hotspots of Butembo and Katwa after its facilities were torched.
The local communities affected in the current outbreak have never before seen Ebola. It's also the first Ebola outbreak ever to occur in an active war zone, where violent conflict over the past two decades has killed and displaced thousands of people.
The two cities where the survey was conducted are densely-populated urban areas along the country's border with Uganda that have been subject to a spate of sporadic attacks by armed groups, which are operating near the mineral-rich, volatile borderlands. Health workers and Ebola treatment centers have been targeted in the attacks.
Moreover, the outbreak came amid heightening tensions over an upcoming election to replace the country's leader of 18 years. Tensions peaked in late December when the Congolese government postponed voting in certain Ebola-hit communities.
According to the study, less than 32 percent of respondents said they thought local authorities could be trusted to represent their interest, though everyone felt local authorities were more trustworthy than those at the city, provincial and national levels.
Health workers were deemed more trustworthy than authorities, though the study's authors note they did not distinguish between government, private and humanitarian health providers.
"Ebola responders are often from outside local communities, so building trust via local leaders and service providers should be a cornerstone of efforts to engage with people to control outbreaks," Vinck said in the statement. "This is particularly important in conflict zones where information about outbreaks can become politicized."
Low institutional trust and belief in misinformation regarding Ebola were linked to a decreased likelihood of adopting behavior to prevent the virus from spreading, per the report, including seeking formal health care and agreeing to the Ebola vaccine.
Confidence in vaccination in general was actually high, with most respondents saying they believe vaccines work and are safe. But fewer said they believed Ebola vaccines work, are safe or are even needed to avoid contracting the virus, according to the study, which was funded by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Innovation Fund.
"As the outbreak was announced, it was met with skepticism and mistrust," Vinck told ABC News via email Friday. "Early on, rumors about the reality of the epidemic and/or its use for political gains in a context of upcoming presidential elections seriously hindered the response. What our study shows is that the mistrust and misinformation that circulated directly affected people’s behavior and decisions to seek care, adopt protective behaviors or accept vaccine."
The study's authors note limitations to the research, such as the fact that the survey was done in urban settings and their findings might not reflect other affected areas, particularly rural.
The World Health Organization, the global health arm of the United Nations, said in a statement Thursday it has teams on the ground engaging with the local communities, yielding "some success in many areas." This past week, nine community committees were established in the outbreak zone to enhance direct dialogue with health care workers and encourage community members to partake in the decision-making process of the response.
Special dialogues are being held in communities where incidents of locals showing reluctance or resistance to the response have been frequent. An anthropologist first meets with the community to ascertain their concerns, then arranges for communal meetings where these concerns can be discussed among various parties, including local youth leaders, women's associations, traditional practitioners and health care providers.
But the World Health Organization said that "finding a balance between providing adequate operational protection to community members at risk of Ebola and healthcare workers while simultaneously winning the trust of communities remains an iterative learning process."
Although the findings of the recent study may not be entirely new to those involved in the Ebola response, they serve as "a call for action to invest in trust-building activities and research," Vinck told ABC News..
"There has been major investment and progress in the medical response," he added, "but our understanding of how individuals and communities react and behave during outbreaks remains limited and there are few insight into what approaches may actually work to build trust."
https://abcnews.go.com/International/people-congos-ebola-outbreak-virus-real-study/story?id=62031431
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Ebola disbelief widespread in DR Congo hotspots
Mar 28, 2019 | BBC
More than a quarter of people surveyed in Ebola-hit areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo told researchers they do not believe the disease exists.
Some 36% of respondents also believed that the disease had been fabricated to destabilise the country.
The authors of the study said this mistrust was a factor in prolonging the epidemic.
The current outbreak started in August and more than 600 people have died, according to the health ministry.
More than 1,000 people have contracted the virus during the current outbreak, which is the second-largest ever recorded.
The study for journal, Lancet Infectious Diseases, surveyed 961 people in the central Congolese cities of Beni and Butembo.
Election officials cited the Ebola outbreak as a reason to cancel the December presidential elections in the affected regions.Why don't people trust the authorities?
Distrust contributed to four violent attacks on Ebola treatment and transit centres in the past month, reports the BBC's Gaius Kowene from the capital, Kinshasa.
The lead author, Patrick Vinck, from Harvard Medical School, told the BBC's Newsday programme that people don't trust the authorities due to decades of conflict and this has an impact on the disease spreading.
"The lack of trust combines with the epidemic to really make people not want to follow advice, not want to listen to what authorities have to tell them to prevent the spread of the epidemic," he said.
Local militias are active in the area and health workers are often accompanied by police and soldiers for security.
This makes villagers suspicious, Jean-Philippe Marcoux, country director for international aid group Mercy Corps told Reuters news agency.
"We need to - as much as possible and rapidly - scale down the presence of security forces with response teams, because it is creating more harm than good right now," he said.
Health Minister Oly Ilunga told the BBC that the authorities were trying to involve local communities more.
Less than two-thirds of people questioned in the survey said they would take a vaccine for Ebola.Is suspicion of vaccines a problem elsewhere in the world?
Yes.
Some Islamist militants oppose the polio vaccination, saying it is a Western conspiracy to sterilise Muslims.
This has had deadly consequences.
Seven Pakistani policemen, three of whom were guarding polio workers, were killed in Pakistan in 2016.
In 2013 nine female health workers killed in Kano state in Nigeria for the same reason.
Suspicions about vaccinations, accompanied by the growth of the so-called anti-vaxxers movement, have also been seen across Europe and the US.
Some parents refuse to get their children vaccinated against measles because they believe discredited information that vaccines cause autism in children.
On Wednesday a county in New York state banned unvaccinated children from public spaces after a severe outbreak of measles.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-47732013
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Congo registers record 15 new Ebola cases in one day
Mar 29, 2019 | Reuters
GOMA, Democratic Republic of Congo (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo on Friday recorded 15 new confirmed cases of Ebola, the biggest one-day rise since the current outbreak was declared last August, the health ministry said.
Coming a day after 14 new cases were confirmed, the number means the outbreak is on track to register one of its highest weekly case totals, despite health officials saying as recently as two weeks ago that it was largely contained and could be stopped by September.
Health workers have brought new tools to the fight against the latest epidemic of the hemorrhagic fever, including a vaccine and several treatments, but community mistrust of first responders and militia violence have set back the campaign.
Five Ebola centers have been attacked since last month, sometimes by armed assailants. The violence led French medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) to suspend its activities at the epicenter of the outbreak last month.
The current outbreak of the virus, which causes severe vomiting, diarrhea and bleeding, is the second largest in history behind the 2013-16 West African epidemic that killed more than 11,000 people.
Congo’s health ministry said that as of Friday the outbreak was believed to have killed 660 people and infected 399 more.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-ebola/congo-registers-record-15-new-ebola-cases-in-one-day-idUSKCN1RA27W
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