Myanmar


Food and nutrition aid has reached 2.1 million people in Myanmar during the first quarter of 2022, the World Food Programme (WFP) says.  WFP hopes to reach at least 4 million of the country’s most food-insecure and vulnerable people this year, subject to availability of resources and access to those in need, and calls for unimpeded humanitarian access.

The United Nations-Energy Plan of Action Towards 2025 was launched today, presenting collective action by 30 United Nations entities and international organizations aiming to enable 500 million more people to gain access to electricity, and to create 30 million jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency, among other targets.

In Haiti, clashes resumed between gangs in Port-au-Prince, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.  In the commune of Croix-des-Bouquets, violence has displaced more than 1,200 people.  Dozens of houses were burned and a hospital in Marin was looted.

Over 1 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi have received one or more doses of the world’s first malaria vaccine thanks to a pilot programme coordinated by the World Health Organization.  The agency estimates that, if widely deployed, the vaccine could save the lives of an additional 40,000 to 80,000 children annually.

The World Food Programme (WFP) says its operational costs for West Africa are expected to expand by $136 million as a result of rising fuel and food prices.  Some 43 million people are expected to face acute food insecurity by June.  Before the Ukraine conflict WFP had already forced to cut rations in Nigeria, Central African Republic, Chad, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Mali and Niger.

The United Nations team in Myanmar remains alarmed by deteriorating humanitarian conditions amid continued fighting, particularly in the country’s south-east and north-west.  Across Myanmar, more than 900,000 people are displaced, including more than 560,000 people who remain uprooted since the military takeover in February 2021.

United Nations staff in Myanmar report that civilians continue to suffer amid a worsening humanitarian crisis and continued fighting.  Nearly 890,000 people are displaced across the country, humanitarian needs are rising and aid workers face limited access, which is hampering the planned scale-up of assistance for 2022.

Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan, strongly condemned today the continuing violence in the country that is impacting the safety of civilians and humanitarian workers and disrupts the delivery of aid and services to vulnerable people.  These appalling acts of violence must stop, she stressed.