In Venezuela, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is supporting 80 international and local organizations, as well as the authorities, in recovery efforts following recent earthquakes and floods. More than 300,000 people have received food, health services, clean water and hygiene support.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk concluded his visit to Jordan today, where he met with senior officials, representatives of the National Centre for Human Rights and civil society. He acknowledged Jordan’s leadership as a major refugee hosting country and in advocating for respect for international humanitarian law.
Tom Fletcher, the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, has allocated $10 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund for an urgent response to food insecurity and to mitigate a risk of famine in Somalia.
In Cuba, an ongoing energy crisis driven by United States sanctions, compounded by hurricanes and other disasters, is severely disrupting essential services like water, sanitation, food production and healthcare. Over 100,000 surgeries have been postponed. The United Nations and partners have a plan to assist up to 2 million people.
The World Health Organization says that the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, highlighting the high risk of further spread and the likelihood that the outbreak may be larger than currently detected.
In Somalia, hunger is pushing 6 million people — almost a third of the population — into critical levels of food insecurity, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
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 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.
