The World Food Programme today urgently called for $26.7 million to support 541,000 people impacted by Cyclone Freddy in Mozambique who have no alternative for meeting their basic needs. This crisis is unfolding at the beginning of the main harvest season, exacerbating the already high levels of hunger.
In progress at UNHQ
Mozambique
In Vanuatu, the World Food Programme’s Pacific Humanitarian Air Service today transported 15 metric tons of critical medical and food supplies for over 250,000 people, about 80 per cent of the population, that have been impacted by the two category 4 cyclones and earthquakes that hit the country in early March.
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.
Following the two cyclones that hit Vanuatu in March, the United Nations resident coordinator has met with Government ministers, the Disaster Management Office and Organization staff to understand challenges, needs and ways the United Nations can further support recovery.
United Nations humanitarian partners are providing water, hygiene and sanitation services, and shelter materials to temporary displacement sites in Malawi, and food and water treatment chemicals to Mozambique, following the destruction wrought by Tropical Cyclone Freddy. Heavy rain and wind continue to hamper those operations.
Following the earthquakes, as of today, 730 trucks carrying aid provided by seven United Nations agencies crossed from Türkiye to north-west Syria using the three available border crossings.
Today, 53 trucks crossed from southern Türkiye into north-west Syria, carrying food commodities from the World Food Programme; shelter, hygiene and other items from the International Organization for Migration; and supplies from the UN Refugee Agency for over 5,000 people, to assist those impacted by the recent earthquake.
In Lebanon, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) donated 1,000 cholera testing kits, administered over 900,000 oral cholera vaccines and provided refrigerators and solar panels to ensure continuous access to electricity in support of the Ministry of Public Health’s efforts to combat the cholera outbreak which began in October.
In Mozambique, the World Food Programme (WFP) warns it will be forced to suspend life-saving assistance, particularly in Cabo Delgado province, to 1 million people — at the peak of the hunger season in February — unless it urgently receives $51 million more in funding.