A convoy of five trucks today reached the front-line community of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhzhia region where repeated shelling has destroyed or damaged many homes, and delivered shelter materials, solar lamps, medicines and other medical and hygiene supplies to the town’s remaining 3,000 people, one sixth of the population.
Noon Briefings
A new report from the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) finds the cholera outbreak impacting 11 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa is an “emergency for children”. The agency is mobilizing health supplies, safe water and technical support in the region, and is calling for $171 million to protect those in need.
Since last month’s earthquakes, more than 1,070 trucks have crossed into the north-west of Syria from southern Türkiye, carrying aid provided by seven United Nations agencies. Staff have now completed 37 cross-border missions into the north-west since the first inter-agency visit to Idlib on 14 February.
United Nations humanitarian partners in Somalia have reported an early start to the country’s annual rainy season, which has brought flash floods, killing 14 people, destroying property and displacing thousands. The rains also come amid several disease outbreaks, including cholera, which are now likely to increase.
The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) reported today that they have initiated steps to help the country address potential challenges from the onset of this year’s rainy season.
The World Health Organization’s new report on the effect of COVID-19 on people living with non-communicable disease said such people had difficulty accessing routine medicines and experienced disrupted treatments, thus underlining the importance of including such treatment and care into national preparedness plans responses.
A joint operation between the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and the country’s internal security forces has led to the arrest of Hussein Damboucha, regional commander of the armed group Front populaire pour la renaissance de la Centrafrique and member of the Coalition des Patriotes pour le Changement.
A report released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Somalia’s Federal Ministry of Health and Human Services suggests that an estimated 43,000 excess deaths may have occurred in the country in 2022 due to the deepening drought.
In Afghanistan, due to lack of funds, the World Food Programme (WFP) today said that it has been forced to drastically reduce critical lifesaving assistance in March to millions of vulnerable Afghanis. In March, at least 4 million people will receive just half of what they need to get by.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime today released its first-ever Global Report on Cocaine, noting that the global supply of cocaine has reached record levels, with coca cultivation soaring 35 per cent from 2020 to 2021. Demand for cocaine has also swelled with many regions showing a steady rise in cocaine users.