Ukraine: G7 Leaders’ Statement (11.03.2022)

Ukraine: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) – Rebeca Grynspan – On the Situatino in Ukraine (11.03.2022)

South Sudan: WFP – Families pushed to the limit as South Sudan braces for its worst hunger crisis ever (11.03.2022)

South Sudan forms part of a ‘ring of fire’ encircling the globe where climate shocks, conflict, covid-19, and rising costs are driving millions closer to starvation.

JUBA, South Sudan, March 11, 2022 – More than seventy percent of the South Sudanese population will struggle to survive the peak of the lean season this year as the country grapples with unprecedented levels of food insecurity caused by conflict, climate shocks, covid, and rising costs, warned the United Nations World Food Programme today.

While global attention remains fixated on Ukraine, a hidden hunger emergency is engulfing South Sudan with about 8.3 million people in South Sudan – including refugees – set to face extreme hunger in the coming months as the 2022 lean season peaks, food becomes scarce and provisions are depleted, according to the latest findings published in the 2022 Humanitarian Needs Overview. Particularly at risk are tens of thousands of South Sudanese who are already severely hungry following successive and continuous shocks and could starve without food assistance.

South Sudan forms part of a ‘ring of fire’ encircling the globe where climate shocks, conflict, covid-19, and rising costs are driving millions closer to starvation. The impact of the climate crisis and ongoing conflict have led to large scale displacement, livelihoods losses, the destruction of arable land and crops as well as rising food prices — threatening the survival of communities living in some of the most isolated areas in the States of Jonglei, Lakes, Unity and Warrap.

“The extent and depth of this crisis is unsettling. We’re seeing people across the country have exhausted all their available options to make ends meet and now they are left with nothing,” said Adeyinka Badejo, Deputy Country Director of the World Food Programme in South Sudan.

Turning the tide on hunger

While providing critical food and nutrition assistance to meet the immediate needs of populations at risk, WFP simultaneously implements resilience building activities to help these communities cope with sudden shocks without losing all their productive assets.

“Given the magnitude of this crisis, our resources only allow us to reach only some of those most in need with the bare minimum to survive, which is not nearly enough to allow communities to get back on their feet. WFP is working tirelessly not only to cater for these immediate needs, but also to support communities to restore their own resilience and be better prepared to face new shocks,” said Badejo.

In 2021, WFP reached 5.9 million people with food and nutrition assistance, including more than 730,000 people in South Sudan who benefited from livelihoods activities.

In Greater Jonglei and Unity States, where unprecedented floods and localized conflict prevented people from reaching their cultivated fields, WFP supported people with cash assistance to buy food and other basic needs, provided communities with tools to protect and maintain critical assets, and trained young people in various vocational activities, including post-harvest management.

Somalia: Anticipatory action and timely response help avert major outbreaks and protect the most vulnerable from health effects of drought (10.03.2022)

The anticipatory action project has also supported scaling up of essential health care services, including treatment of severely malnourished children in nutrition stabilization centres across the states covered.

GENEVA, Switzerland, March 10, 2022 – Somalia has witnessed intermittent drought over the last 3 decades. Each drought, and natural catastrophe, has brought with it a string of health consequences, magnified even further in a country with fragile and vulnerable health system.

CERF support delivering anticipatory action

To respond to an impending drought situation in Somalia during May to November in 2021, WHO provided timely support to the Ministry of Health and Human Services, with funding support from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Part of the support focused on the prevention and mitigation of the health consequences of drought through anticipatory action, while the other focused on delivering an urgent, swift response through the deployment of rapid response teams in affected districts.

Highlighting the progress made Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik, WHO Representative to Somalia and Head of Mission, said, “Our support prevented a major catastrophe when the country has still been reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic and its health system was yet to fully recover.” By considering Somalia’s previous experiences with drought, we were able to predict scenarios, prepare for, and respond to, difficult situations to save lives, and all the while offer essential primary health care services throughout the same efforts.”

Preventing and mitigating public health risks by anticipating effects of emergencies

In 2021, through the CERF anticipatory action project, WHO supported the ministries of health in Somaliland, Galmudug, Hirshabelle, Jubaland and Puntland to prevent and mitigate the public health risks of drought. In 11 high-risk districts earmarked by Somalia’s Health Cluster, WHO took measures to prevent the spread of diseases, reaching 163 266 people directly, 69 635 of whom were internally displaced people (IDPs) and 81 021 were women.

The project also enabled WHO to deploy health care workers, and rapid response teams, with a view to preventing disease spread and mitigating the health effects of drought at community levels. As a result, over 1100 outbreak alerts were detected and investigated in a timely manner. By enhancing surveillance for diseases, detecting, investigating and responding to alerts early, the country was able to avert larger outbreaks of diseases from cholera, measles and other epidemic disease, save lives and reduce the health consequences of drought.

The anticipatory action project has also supported scaling up of essential health care services, including treatment of severely malnourished children in nutrition stabilization centres across the states covered.

Through this support, WHO distributed medical supplies for treatment of severe acute malnutrition, cholera, malaria and pneumonia, thereby reaching 244 250 people, who had limited access to health services, with community outreach services.

Delivering a rapid response to public health challenges

As part of the second CERF-funded rapid response project, in 2021, in collaboration with state ministries of health, WHO deployed rapid response teams and community health workers to provide an urgent, essential health response for IDPs and host communities in 9 drought-affected districts in Somaliland, Jubaland and Puntland. Through this support, WHO directly reached 123 181 Somalis, 61 573 of whom were female.

Through this project, WHO deployed 324 community health workers who visited every household in drought-affected district to, report alerts to the rapid response teams for field investigation. These community health workers reported a total 2527 epidemic alerts, including for suspected measles, cholera, malaria and respiratory tract infections. The rapid response teams that were trained and deployed in 39 districts through this project investigated 1686 of these alerts triggered from the community health workers. These interventions prevented major outbreaks in drought-affected areas. In addition, WHO’s work helped to provide essential health care to over 491 206 beneficiaries.

Communities’ needs drive project activities

In places like riverine villages where Dahawo Muse Yusuf and her family live, these interventions support Somalis to be prepared for, and respond to, public health challenges.

Sitting upright on a bed at the Jowhar Regional Hospital, Dahawo explained how her village, Raqayle Umar Gudley, is affected every time the Shabelle River swells with floods, or runs dry through a drought. This is yet another time when Dahawo and her community have not been able to harvest crops since the last deyr rains failed, she adds grimly. “We have no access to safe water and dig into the river bed to look for water sometimes,” said 20-year-old Dahawo. “I know of many people like me, from my village, who are suffering from diarrhoea due to drinking unsafe water. Once, an NGO – I can’t remember their name – gave us chlorine to clean water but that was just once.” When asked if she knew how to clean water, Dahawo chuckles and says they have not been able to discuss this issue at home, but that she would ask her husband, who is educated, to discuss with the community how to clean water to prevent diseases.

“People like Dahawo are suffering from diseases that can be prevented,” said Dr Mohamed Farah, the head clinician at the Jowhar Regional Hospital. “Many people also suffer from communicable diseases such as pneumonia, and acute watery diarrhoea, and several children are suffering from measles and severe acute malnutrition as the result of the drought. We are receiving patients from as far as Hiran and Jalaqsi. The situation is getting worse every day.”

Learning skills to prevent the spread of diseases The two CERF-funded projects reached health care workers with different skill sets. In Belet Weyne, Nimca Kalil Mohamud, a nurse working at the Eljalle Health Centre offers women support to breastfeed their babies properly, and gives advice on family planning and nutrition.

She explained that she learnt a lot about the prevention of COVID-19 and the integrated management of childhood illnesses at a capacity-building session offered by WHO and the Government through CERF in 2021.

In addition to advancing skills and knowledge, such training also motivates health workers like her to do her job better, Nimca added.

Offering primary health care services to support affected communities

In continuing to ensure humanitarian aid reaches people affected by public health crises, WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health in Somalia in 2022 to ensure a rapid response intervention to mitigate the public health risks in some of the severest drought-affected districts of Galmudug and South West State.

Under these rapid response interventions supported by CERF, the project aims to increase communities’ access to primary health care services through fixed and outreach services, including the timely detection of and swift response to alerts of epidemic-prone diseases, as well as support risk communication, community engagement and health promotion activities. These efforts will continue to protect vulnerable populations from the adverse effects of drought.

Ethiopia: Tigray External Affairs Office – Statement on the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Statement During the 49th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (10.03.2022)

Ethiopia: Tigray External Affairs Office – Statement on the Appointment of Members of the International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (07.03.2022)

Good Neighbors Statement on the Ukrainian Humanitarian Crisis: Urge global community solidarity to protect women and children (07.03.2022)

Somalia: Statement by the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mr. Adam Abdelmoula, on the situation in Diinsoor District, South West State (03.03.2022)

Cameroon: populations of crisis-affected regions exposed to worrying food situation (02.03.2022)

In the Far North region, the combination of climatic factors and insecurity has left people unable to build up sufficient food stocks for the upcoming lean season.

NEW YORK, United States of America, March 2, 2022 –  More than two million people living in 11 departments of the Far North, South West and North West regions will be in a situation of acute food insecurity in the coming months, according to projections by the Harmonized Framework of October 2021.

In the Far North region, the combination of climatic factors and insecurity has left people unable to build up sufficient food stocks for the upcoming lean season, usually between June and August but which could take place as early as April given the current conditions. Many households report already running out of food supplies. The low rainfall in recent months has prevented some crops from completing their growth cycle. Agricultural production has been attacked by rodents, locusts, seed-eating birds and pachyderms (elephants and hippos). These destructions particularly affected off-season crops, which are particularly important for access to food during the lean season.

The violence of inter-community clashes of December 2021 in Logone and Chari has resulted in the displacement of tens of thousands of people to neighboring Chad and more than 35,000 people are still internally displaced in the departments of Logone and Chari, Diamaré and Mayo Sava, dependent on food assistance after they had to leave goods, production tools and farming lands behind them.

Security conditions have also had a negative impact on food availability and prices. This past year has seen a significant increase in the price of basic foodstuffs – the price of millet has for instance increased of 29% between January 2021 and January 2022.

Daniel Kalbassou, President of the Far North region, is worried about this situation: “We are asking for everyone’s support to help us anticipate and manage the upcoming lean season. We cannot solve this situation alone, which will have harmful nutritional consequences for the populations and, in view of the environmental factors, no improvement is to be expected in the short or medium term”.

In the North-West and South-West regions, the security crisis is causing frequent population displacements, reducing cultivated areas and agro-pastoral production capacities.

This food crisis is occurring in regions already weakened by crises and among populations affected by the socio-economic impact of two years of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the Far North, it is more than ever necessary to combine sufficient emergency food aid for the populations affected by the conflicts with a response to the underlying causes of the crises, in order to enhance long-term resilience capacities. populations. In the North-West and South-West regions, strengthening the humanitarian response is essential to meet the basic needs of the populations and improve their protection.

Signatory NGOs/ONG signataires :

Action contre la Faim

ALIMA

CARE

Danish Refugee Council

IEDA Relief

International Rescue Committee

Intersos

Lutheran World Federation

Norwegian Refugee Council

Première Urgence Internationale

Solidarités International

Ethiopia: Afar Revolutionary Party – Tigray Terrorist Criminals Continue to Commit Genocide and Ethinic Cleansing in Afar Region – Ethiopia (28.02.2022)