Food

More than 119,000 people hit by Tropical Cyclone Amanda in El Salvador need assistance, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund, which estimates that $2.2 million will be needed for critical sanitation, shelter and child‑protection support to over 35,000 people in shelters and impacted communities.

Following are UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed’s remarks, as prepared for delivery, to the Group of Friends of Food Security and Nutrition, in New York today:

For the first time since 2018, the World Food Programme has been able to send a humanitarian convoy from Kenya directly into South Sudan through the Nadapal Border crossing.  The nine-truck convoy carried 280 metric tons of food, enough to feed 20,000 people for a month.  The route’s reopening cuts travel times in half.

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the launch of the policy brief on food security, in New York today:

The United Nations humanitarian chief, Mark Lowcock, has released $40 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund to address health emergencies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, including a new Ebola outbreak in the city of Mbandaka, in north-western Équateur province.

UNDP announced the winners of the eleventh Equator Prize, recognizing indigenous communities that create innovative, nature-based solutions to biodiversity loss and climate change.  They are from Canada, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Guatemala, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mexico and Thailand.

In Bangladesh, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed today that a 71-year-old Rohingya man is the first refugee in the Cox’s Bazar camp to die from COVID-19 and some 30 other people have tested positive so far, yet the numbers are likely higher as testing is ramping up.

The Secretary-General’s annual report on the protection of civilians in armed conflict has been released.  Covering 2019, it documents the death and injury of tens of thousands; the displacement of millions; as well as widespread reports of sexual violence, noting children were forced to take part in fighting.

Global human development — which is the combined measure of the world’s education, health and living standards — is set to decline this year for the first time since 1990, when the concept was first developed, the United Nations Development Programme reported today, citing the COVID-19 pandemic as a determining factor.

Somalia is dealing with COVID-19, floods and the worst desert locust upsurge in 25 years amid protracted conflict and significant displacement. As aid partners and authorities are scaling up efforts, the revised 2020 Somalia humanitarian response plan remains less than 17 per cent funded, at $210.8 million out of $1.25 billion.