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	Poverty, illiteracy and early deaths await world's most disadvantaged children by UNICEF Regional Director Geert Cappelaere   June 2017   Unprecedented spread of cholera in Yemen as health workers race against time to save children.   Statement by UNICEF Regional Director, Geert Cappelaere, following his visit to the war-torn country.   'I have just concluded a trip to Yemen to oversee UNICEF's response to the unprecedented cholera outbreak that is gripping the country.   Cholera is spreading incredibly fast in Yemen, turning an already dire situation for children turn into a disaster. In just over one month, close to 70,000 cholera cases were reported with nearly 600 fatalities. The number of suspected cases is expected to reach 130,000 within the next two weeks.   Cholera doesn't need a permit to cross a checkpoint or a border, nor does it differentiate between areas of political control.   At the triage in one of the few functioning hospitals I visited, I witnessed harrowing scenes of children who were barely alive - tiny babies weighing less than two kilos - fighting for their lives. I fear that some of them must have died overnight.   Many families could barely afford the cost of bringing their children to hospital.   But they are the lucky ones. Countless children around Yemen die every day in silence from causes that can easily be prevented or treated like cholera, diarrhoea or malnutrition.   I met health workers racing against time to prevent cholera from killing more children. They are dedicated and committed, despite not receiving their salaries in almost nine months. They are Yemen's unsung heroes and we have to do everything possible to provide them with the medical supplies and the support they desperately need. All authorities in Yemen must come together to start paying the country's civil servants again.   Since the start of this outbreak four weeks ago, UNICEF has been working with partners to respond. Our teams on the ground have provided safe water to over 1 million people across Yemen and delivered over 40 tonnes of lifesaving medical equipment - including medicine, oral rehydration salts, intravenous fluids and diarrhoea disease kits.   But the international community needs to do more to provide immediate support to relief efforts in health, water and sanitation, nutrition and community mobilization. UNICEF urgently requires funding to prevent the outbreak from spreading further.   But most importantly, it is time for parties to the conflict to prioritise the boys and girls of Yemen and put an end to the fighting through a peaceful political agreement. This is the ultimate way to save the lives of children in Yemen, and to help them thrive'.   June 2017   Central African Republic: Thousands of children and families in desperate need of humanitarian assistance as violence escalates.   Two planes carrying vital supplies for thousands of families displaced by recent violence in the Central African Republic were finally able to land earlier today in Bangassou, UNICEF said, after weeks of intensified conflict had blocked the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the southeast.   'We've been trying to reach thousands of families in dire need of humanitarian assistance for over a week now, but the roads have become far too dangerous because of escalating violence', said Christine Muhigana, UNICEF Representative in Central African Republic.   'Given how critical the situation had become in the southeast, the only option was an airlift to get lifesaving supplies to children and families in these hard to reach areas'.   Recent clashes between armed groups have hit civilians hard in Bria, Bangassou, Alindao, Mobaye and other villages across the southeast region, leaving 300 people dead and 200 injured, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.   An estimated 100,000 people have fled their homes in search of safety, in what is the country's largest population displacement since 2014.   UNICEF continues to call on all armed groups to give aid workers free and unimpeded access to civilian populations, so that life-saving supplies and services can be provided without delay.   UNICEF also fears that the latest wave of violence could unravel previous commitments made by armed groups to release all children and refrain from any new recruitment. In May 2015, leaders of 10 armed groups in CAR signed a commitment for the release of children. Since then, more than 7,000 children have been released from their ranks.   UNICEF's humanitarian response for children in the Central African Republic is 30 per cent funded for 2017. Out of US $46.3 million requested, less than US $14 million has been received. http://uni.cf/2rSXzpf   May 2017   Nearly 400,000 children at risk of severe acute malnutrition in the Greater Kasai region in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) due to violence.   The crisis has severely disrupted life-saving interventions for children in recent months, putting an estimated 400,000 children at risks of severe acute malnutrition, said UNICEF.   Across the five provinces of Greater Kasai, critical health infrastructures are no longer operational due to the conflict. In Central Kasai Province alone, more than one-third of health centers have been forced to close, due to security concerns for staff or lack of medical supplies, depriving children of vital services and medicine.   'These children are among the most vulnerable in the country, and now they face a looming crisis if access to basic services is not restored quickly', said Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF's Regional Director for West and Central Africa. 'Without adequate health care, without access to food and clean water, the lives of hundreds of thousands of children are at risk'.   The nutrition situation of children is of particular concern because insecurity has made farming difficult for the local population. Eight health zones in Greater Kasai have been put on nutritional alert since the intensification of the conflict in August 2016. Supplies of food and basic necessities are dwindling, and displacement has forced families to live in conditions with inadequate hygiene or sanitation.   Even before the latest wave of violence, the Kasai Provinces were among the poorest in the country. More than one in ten children die before the age of five due to lack of adequate health care. Half the children suffer from chronic malnutrition or stunting. In recent months, widespread conflict across the region has exacerbated the situation.   'Our priority over the next few weeks is to reach thousands of severely malnourished children that can no longer be cared for in the health centers that have been destroyed', said Tajudeen Oyewale, acting UNICEF Representative in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 'But insecurity in these remote areas is making our work very challenging'.   UNICEF has stepped up its humanitarian response across the five Kasai provinces, providing therapeutic food to thousands of children in nutritional centres and training hundreds of community workers so they are able to screen children suffering from severe acute malnutrition. However, UNICEF needs funding assistancer for its emergency response in Greater Kasai.   May 2017   Five-fold increase in number of refugee and migrant children traveling alone since 2010 - UNICEF   The global number of refugee and migrant children moving alone has reached a record high, increasing nearly five-fold since 2010, UNICEF said today in a new report. At least 300,000 unaccompanied and separated children were recorded in some 80 countries in the combined years of 2015 and 2016, up from 66,000 in 2010 and 2011.   'A Child is a Child: Protecting children on the move from violence, abuse and exploitation' presents a global snapshot of refugee and migrant children, the motivations behind their journeys and the risks they face along the way. The report shows that an increasing number of these children are taking highly dangerous routes, often at the mercy of smugglers and traffickers, to reach their destinations, clearly justifying the need for a global protection system to keep them safe from exploitation, abuse and death.   'One child moving alone is one too many, and yet today, there are a staggering number of children doing just that, we as adults are failing to protect them', said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Justin Forsyth. 'Ruthless smugglers and traffickers are exploiting their vulnerability for personal gain, helping children to cross borders, only to sell them into slavery and forced prostitution. It is unconscionable that we are not adequately defending children from these predators'.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/five-fold-increase-number-refugee-and-migrant-children-traveling-alone-2010-unicef   May 2017   At least one in four children live in poverty in the Middle East and North Africa   According to a recent UNICEF analysis covering 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa, poverty continues to impact at least 29 million children - one in four children in the region. These children are deprived of the minimum requirements in two or more of the most basic life necessities including basic education, decent housing, nutritious food, quality health care, safe water, sanitation and access to information.   'Child poverty is about so much more than family income - it's about access to quality education, healthcare, a home and safe water. When children are deprived of the basics, they are at risk of getting trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty', said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), at a regional conference on child poverty held in Morocco.   Country level information on child poverty has been aggregated for the first time in the MENA region. While important progress has been made in most countries to reduce poverty, the number of children living in poverty continues to be high. Countries affected by conflict are seeing a rapid regression of gains made in past decades.   The study's key findings include:   Lack of education was found to be one of the key drivers of inequality and poverty for children. Children who live in households that are headed by an uneducated family member are twice as likely to live in poverty. One quarter of children aged 5 to 17 are not enrolled in school or have fallen two grades behind.   Almost half of all children live in inadequate housing with poor flooring and overcrowding.   Almost half of all children are not fully immunized or were born to mothers who did not get enough antenatal care or birth assistance.   One in five children are forced to walk more than 30 minutes to fetch water or use unsafe drinking water. More than one third of children live in homes with no tap water.   Major challenges stand in the way of measuring the impact of poverty on children and taking collective action towards poverty alleviation. To start with, countries in the region don't consistently collect data on poverty while widespread and ongoing violence and displacement make it extremely difficult to get data from conflict-affected countries. Absence of a full understanding of children's reality, including the most marginalised or invisible, risks that existing policies and actions fall short from addressing child poverty effectively.   'The return on investing in the most vulnerable children now is a peaceful and prosperous region in the future', said Cappelaere. 'It takes a combination of true leadership and courageous public and private investment from governments, civil society, private sector, individuals and the international community'.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/least-one-four-children-live-poverty-middle-east-and-north-africa   Violence and conflict in the Middle East and North Africa have put in jeopardy the health of 24 million children in Yemen, Syria, the Gaza Strip, Iraq, Libya and Sudan.   Damage to health infrastructure is depriving children of essential health care. Water and sanitation services have been compromised, causing waterborne diseases to spread while preventative health care and nutritious food are insufficient to meet children's needs. http://uni.cf/2rSHmMU   State of the World's Children   Poverty, illiteracy and early deaths await world's most disadvantaged children   Based on current trends, 69 million children under five will die from mostly preventable causes, 167 million children will live in poverty, and 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030, the target date for the Sustainable Development Goals - unless the world focuses more on the plight of its most disadvantaged children, according to a new UNICEF report.   The 2016 State of the World's Children, UNICEF's annual flagship report, paints a stark picture of what is in store for the world's poorest children if governments, donors, businesses and international organizations do not accelerate efforts to address their needs.   'Denying hundreds of millions of children a fair chance in life does more than threaten their futures - by fueling intergenerational cycles of disadvantage, it imperils the future of their societies', said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake.   'We have a choice: Invest in these children now or allow our world to become still more unequal and divided'.   The report notes that significant progress has been made in saving children's lives, getting children into school and lifting people out of poverty. Global under-five mortality rates have been more than halved since 1990, boys and girls attend primary school in equal numbers in 129 countries, and the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide is almost half what it was in the 1990s.   But this progress has been neither even nor fair, the report says. The poorest children are twice as likely to die before their fifth birthday and to be chronically malnourished than the richest.   Across much of South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, children born to mothers with no education are almost 3 times more likely to die before they are 5 than those born to mothers with a secondary education. And girls from the poorest households are twice as likely to marry as children than girls from the wealthiest households.   Nowhere is the outlook grimmer than in sub-Saharan Africa, where at least 247 million children or 2 in 3 live in multidimensional poverty, deprived of what they need to survive and develop, and where nearly 60 per cent of 20- to 24-year-olds from the poorest fifth of the population have had less than four years of schooling. At current trends, the report projects, by 2030, sub-Saharan Africa will account for:   Nearly half of the 69 million children who will die before their fifth birthday from mostly preventable causes;   More than half of the 60 million children of primary school age who will still be out of school; and 9 out of 10 children living in extreme poverty.   Although education plays a unique role in levelling the playing field for children, the number of children who do not attend school has increased since 2011, and a significant proportion of those who do go to school are not learning. About 124 million children today do not go to primary- and lower-secondary school, and almost 2 in 5 who do finish primary school have not learned how to read, write or do simple arithmetic.   The report points to evidence that investing in the most vulnerable children can yield immediate and long-term benefits.   Cash transfers, for example, have been shown to help children stay in school longer and advance to higher levels of education. On average, each additional year of education a child receives increases his or her adult earnings by about 10 per cent. And for each additional year of schooling completed, on average, by young adults in a country, that country's poverty rates fall by 9 per cent.   Inequity is neither inevitable, nor insurmountable, the report argues. Better data on the most vulnerable children, integrated solutions to the challenges children face, innovative ways to address old problems, more equitable investment and increased involvement by communities, all these measures can help level the playing field for children.   http://www.unicef.org/reports/state-of-worlds-children http://www.unicef.org/sowc2016/   * UNICEF is responding to an unprecedented number of major humanitarian emergencies facing children around the world. Here journalists can find the most recent news and resources on children caught in these crises, UNICEF's response and key contacts in each region: http://www.unicef.org/appeals/ Visit the related web page
	Hunger Crises Update: Relief Action remains Under-funded by Stefan Jungcurt International Institute for Sustainable Development, agencies   Aug. 2017   The hunger crises affecting countries in parts of Africa, Asia and the Near East continue to widen in scope. Relief action to prevent further famine remains limited as international organizations face significant funding constraints. Recent statements by international organizations and country updates highlight conflict as a main driver of the current crises. Refugees and displaced populations are most vulnerable, as host countries struggle to provide food and other basic needs.   According to a statement by the World Food Programme (WFP), at least 20 million people continue to be at risk of dying from hunger in South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and the northeast of Nigeria, including 1.4 million children.   The organization reports that the famine declared in parts of South Sudan in February 2017 could be overcome; however the situation remains critical as several of the affected countries are entering the lean season before the next harvest when food stocks are at their lowest.   WFP is coordinating the worldwide #FightingFamine Campaign, which seeks to raise US$2.8 billion needed to support 20 million people threatened by hunger. To date, approximately 46% of the total have been raised.   In a Presidential Statement, the UN Security Council reiterated its call on all parties to allow the safe, timely and unhindered access for humanitarian assistance for affected populations, including the protection of food relief convoys and medical facilities. The Council also recognized the direct link between conflict and famine emphasizing 'with deep concern that ongoing conflicts and violence have devastating humanitarian consequences and hinder an effective humanitarian response in the short, medium and long term and are therefore a major cause of famine'.   The statement further requests the UN Secretary-General to provide an oral briefing in October 2017 on country-specific impediments to an effective response to the risk of famine in Yemen, South Sudan, Somalia and northeast Nigeria, and make specific recommendations on how to address these impediments, in order to enable a more robust short and long-term response in the four countries.   The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) welcomed the Council's recognition of conflict as major cause of famine stressing its commitment to work with the UN and member countries to address conflict-related food security. In a press release, FAO highlighted its relevant work including a recent report on the link between peace and food security and the Global Report of Food Crises 2017.   Some relief will be provided by the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). The Fund released US$45 million for urgent humanitarian assistance in the 'neglected and underfunded crises' in Afghanistan, the Central African Republic, Chad and Sudan. The funds will focus on addressing the most urgent needs of people displaced or otherwise affected by conflict in these countries. The project will enable the provision of critical health care, access to clean water and sanitation and other humanitarian aid.   Yemen continues to suffer from a deadly combination of conflict, cholera and hunger, which has pushed 70% of the country's population to the brink of famine with at least 400.000 affected by cholera and 1.900 deaths recorded so far. To help address the sources of the cholera epidemic, the World Bank announced an emergency grant of US$200 million. The funding will support the training of 7.500 health workers, water chlorination, rehabilitation of wastewater treatment plants, mass communication and social mobilization campaigns, and a large-scale cholera vaccine campaign. The project aims to assist in providing essential health and nutrition services to 13 million Yemenis and safe water and sanitation services to 4.5 million.   In the northeastern region of Nigeria, 8.5 million people need humanitarian assistance. More than 2 million are in acute need of food support after fleeing violence caused by Boko Haram, more than half of which are children. In early August, the Central Emergency Relief Fund (CERF) released US$10.5 million to fund 15 projects that will provide food, safe water emergency shelter and health services to the most vulnerable populations in the country. In mid-August, WFP reported that it has begun transporting food assistance to the displaced populations using food donated by the government of Nigeria.   With the support of donors, WFP aims to provide food assistance to 1.36 million people in Nigeria during the current lean season.   Rising violence and displacement are also pushing more people into hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A recent update of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) reports that between June 2016 and June 2017 the number of people facing acute hunger has increased by 30% from 5.9 million to 7.7 million. Acute hunger includes the IPC Phase levels of emergency and crisis which precede the state of famine.   The report states that one in ten persons now suffers from acute hunger and that the possibility of famine has increased substantially. The main driver of hunger is escalating and prolonged conflict in the Kasai and Tanganyika regions which has displaced more than 1.4 million people. The situation is aggravated by the spread of diseases including army worm, cholera and measles.   WFP and World Vision have launched emergency response operations to provide food assistance to 42.000 food insecure people. In its press release, WFP states that additional US$17.3 million are urgently required for scaling up operations to reach 225.000 of the most vulnerable people between September and December 2017.   Refugees fleeing to other countries are also at risk of suffering from hunger as host countries are often overwhelmed by the challenge to provide adequate nutrition to hundreds of thousands people in camps. Sudan is hosting more than 400,000 refugees that fled the conflict in South Sudan. During a visit to the country, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi called for international solidarity and aid to support the Sudanese people in their efforts to attend to the needs of the refugees. Regarding the conflict in South Sudan, which is generating the world's fastest growing incident of forced displacement, he urged parties to the conflict, regional states and the international community need to put an end to this tragedy.   Uganda is hosting more than one million refugees from South Sudan. While refugees are currently not suffering from acute hunger, measures are needed to establish sustainable food supply for refugee camps, said FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva during a visit. While he described Uganda's refugee model as 'an example to the world', he urged mobilization of funds to support efforts to enable refugees to produce their own food through farming and livestock keeping.   In Tanzania, WFP support to refugees from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo had to be cut due to a funding shortfall. The organization reports that distributions to 320,000 people had to be cut to 62% of the required 2100 calories per day. To avoid further decline and prolonged negative impacts, would require additional US$23.6 million in funding, according to WFP's press release.   In Ethiopia, prolonged drought has driven 8.5 million people, mostly small-scale livestock herders, towards the brink of hunger. FAO warns that herders who have lost their animals during the drought induced by the El Nino phenomenon will require support to prevent further livestock losses due to exhausted pastures and water sources and animal diseases. FAO states that US$20 million are required between August and December 2017 to support Ethiopian herders and farmers and prevent a worsening of the hunger situation.   http://sdg.iisd.org/news/hunger-crises-update-un-security-council-highlights-conflict-as-driver-of-hunger-as-relief-action-remains-underfunded/ http://sdg.iisd.org/sdgs/   http://publications.wfp.org/2017/mapping-hunger/index.html http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/un-food-agencies-warn-against-ignoring-famine-alarm http://interactive.unocha.org/publication/globalhumanitarianoverview/ Visit the related web page
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