In Lebanon, two aid organizations successfully conducted missions to Tyre in Sector West Thursday thanks to coordination with the UN peacekeeping mission there and the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Humanitarian needs remain severe, especially in the health sector amid continued Israeli attacks.
The World Food Programme (WFP) reports that 6.5 million people in Somalia are experiencing crisis-level hunger, acute malnutrition or are at risk of starvation due to worsening drought conditions, conflict and funding shortfalls. WFP warns that without additional funding it may be forced to halt emergency assistance.
In Ukraine, humanitarian convoys continue to reach hard-to-access communities near the front line, even as heavy bombardment in urban centres across the east are causing civilian casualties, including among first responders. In the last two days, the UN and its partners delivered two convoys to the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the World Food Programme and aid partners today resumed food distribution to over 71,000 people at the Plaine Savo displacement site in Ituri, the first delivery since December, after weeks of negotiations led by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs secured better access.
More than a decade after it began, the United Nations concluded its cross-border humanitarian operations from Türkiye into Syria, following the reopening of border crossings to commercial traffic and improved access via regular supply routes. Over the years, the UN moved more than 65,000 aid trucks to support 1.25 million people annually.
In Cuba, the humanitarian situation continues to worsen as the energy crisis deepens, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reports, noting that healthcare, waste collection, water deliveries to remote areas, food distribution and other essential services are being heavily disrupted.
In Mogadishu, Somalia, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher, meeting with the diplomatic community and humanitarian partners, warned that without urgent funding, more aid programmes would close. Two million people in Somalia survive on one meal a day.
In Sudan, the World Health Organization, UN Children’s Fund and the Government have launched a nationwide polio vaccination campaign to reach over 4 million children under the age of five in high-risk and conflict-impacted areas in Kassala and North Kordofan. Nearly 1.5 million children remain inadequately protected.
A United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) analysis finds that Afghanistan risks losing up to 20,000 women teachers and 5,400 healthcare workers by 2030 as restrictions on girls’ education and women’s employment continue. Such restrictions are already costing $84 million annually in lost economic output.
In Ukraine, at least three drone strikes in the last week hit humanitarian vehicles in the city of Kherson, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports. Two incidents involved the same local non-governmental organization, while another impacted a different organization delivering food.
