ETHIOPIA Humanitarian Situation Report

Transcription

1 ETHIOPIA Humanitarian Situation Report UNICEF supported CMAM programme, South Omo, SNNPR UNICEF /Ethiopia/2017/Tsegaye SitRep # 4 Reporting Period April 2018 Highlights Floods in the Somali region have affected approximately 163,500 people, with much of the affected area now inaccessible. UNICEF is scaling up its health, water, sanitation and hygiene activities to help prevent and quickly respond to disease outbreaks in affected communities. In Gedeo Zone, SNNPR, and West Guji, Oromia a conflict was re-ignited between ethnic Gedeo and Guji (Oromos) resulting in 300,000 people being displaced (unconfirmed). A joint multi-agency assessment led by Government is yet to be conducted. UNICEF provided Emergency Drug Kits (EDK) and renewable supplies to the conflict affected zones of East Hararghe, West Hararghe and Bale in Oromia region to meet the immediate needs of around 50,000 internally displaced people. UNICEF has received US$3 million from the Government of Sweden and US$500,000 from the Government of Canada for its humanitarian response. UNICEF s Response with Partners Nutrition: Children under 5 years with SAM admitted for treatment to therapeutic care programme Health: People provided with access to essential and life-saving health care services WASH: People accessing safe water Child Protection: Vulnerable children receiving psychosocial support Education: School aged children with access to emergency education UNICEF Target UNICEF Total Results Sector/Cluster Cluster Target 1 Total Results 363,611* 53,673** 350,111 51, , ,785 *UNICEF targets and results include refugee population **SAM admission is for January to February ,110,000* 1,305,683 6,860,000 3,580,889 58,300* 2,444 30,000 3, ,000* 8,700 2,190,000 1,181,278 SITUATION IN NUMBERS 7.9 million* People in need of relief food/cash 350,111* Children in need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition 2.2 million* School-aged children, including adolescents, in need of emergency school feeding and learning material assistance 1.7 million** Internally displaced people in Ethiopia (64 per cent displaced due to conflict) 916,678*** Registered refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia. *2018 Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Plan for Ethiopia, March 2018 ** Ethiopia: Conflict displacement situation report, April 2018, NDRMC and OCHA ** Ethiopia, refugee and asylum seekers (UNHCR, March 2018) Funding Status 2018** Carry-over: US 12.9m (11.6%) Funding gap: US $84.1m (75.2%) 2018 Funding Requirements: $111.8m Funds received to date: US $14.7m (13.2%) *Funds available includes funding received for the current appeal year as well as carry-forward from the previous year.

2 Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs Following reports of flooding in Afar, Oromia and Somali regions, the National Flood Task Force has been activated. A Flood Alert has been released indicating the areas currently affected and most likely to be affected in the coming months based on predicted rainfall patterns. The Somali region has been the worst affected so far with an estimated 163,500 people (more than 27,000 households) affected in Adaddle, Berano, East Imey, Ferfer, Kalafo and Mustahil woredas 1 of Shebelle zone, intensifying existing humanitarian needs. The rapid joint humanitarian assessment conducted during April indicated that out of the 27,000 families affected, more than 16,000 are displaced. Houses, schools, health facilities and sanitation systems are either affected or destroyed. Weather conditions in the coming months will be critical in determining whether the rains bring welcome relief from drought conditions or large scale flooding, which will further impact on agricultural livelihoods and increase the risk of AWD and other disease outbreaks. The Somali Regional Government is actively responding to the situation and UNICEF and humanitarian partners are scaling up support to meet health, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) needs to avert potential disease outbreaks. People displaced by conflict, drought and now flooding are the most severely affected, particularly those living in makeshift shelters. Ongoing humanitarian assistance to many communities has been interrupted by the heavy rains which have made roads impassable, cut off key supply routes, and complicated communication and situation monitoring. In Gedeo Zone, SNNPR, and West Guji, Oromia, conflict between ethnic Gedeo and Guji (Oromos) has displaced people on both sides of the regional borders. It is not yet clear what triggered the conflict but disagreements over border demarcation could be a factor. Based on requests, UNICEF has provided WASH supplies in both Gedeo and West Guji through the Regional Water Bureaus, reached out to the Regional Bureau of Women and Children Affairs (BoWCA) in Oromia and SNNPR to try and verify the numbers of children separated or unaccompanied, and is supporting coordination efforts in the respective regions through the Field Offices. The Regional Governments of Oromia and SNNP have agreed to return the displaced to their areas of origin and support them with relief and rehabilitation assistance. However, it is not yet clear if places of origin are safe, as reports of on-going communal violence have been reported, raising significant protection concerns. As of 31 March 2018, the number of refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia has reached 916,678. Most are from South Sudan (48%), Somalia (27.9%), Eritrea (18.3%) and Sudan (4.9%). 22,093 of these refugees and asylum seekers arrived in Humanitarian Leadership and Coordination The humanitarian response in Ethiopia is led by the National Disaster Risk Management Commission through the federal and regional Disaster Risk Management Technical Working Groups (DRMTWGs). UNOCHA coordinates the humanitarian response with UN agencies and NGOs in support of government-led humanitarian interventions. The Government prioritizes its emergency response based on target hotspot woredas. UNICEF continues to provide the Government with crucial support in cluster coordination at federal and regional levels in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), nutrition, and education (with Save the Children International). UNICEF also provides coordination support to the Child Protection and Gender-based Violence Sub-Cluster and plays a key supporting role in Health Cluster coordination (with WHO). In response to the reported floods in different parts of the country, the National Flood Task Force has been activated. The task force has released its first Flood Alert for affected and at-risk areas and will coordinate the humanitarian response. In addition to the National Flood Task Force, a flood Command Post has been established in the Somali region. UNICEF has deployed emergency staff to support the Command Post to support assessments, coordination and response. UNICEF specialists in nutrition, health communication, and water, sanitation and hygiene are on the ground in the affected zones. In April, UNICEF supported the regional government bureaus of Amhara, Gambella and Tigray to prepare their respective Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans for Based on the regional risk assessments and analysis, key preparedness and response actions for the year have been developed. Humanitarian Strategy: Prepositioning and Partnerships The 2018 Ethiopia HDRP 2 was launched in March The Plan is a first step in the development of a multi-year planning framework. The current HDRP seeks to provide aid across three pillars: 1) Prevention and Mitigation; 2) Response and Response Preparedness; and 3) National Systems Strengthening and Recovery. UNICEF will support the Government under Pillar 2 to respond to humanitarian situations. Through its regular programming, it will contribute to Pillars 1 and 3. UNICEF is working with its partners to ensure that children have access to health, nutrition, education, protection, safe water, sanitation, and hygiene during emergencies. 1 A woreda is an administrative unit under zone. The administrative hierarchy in Ethiopia is Region, Zone, Woreda and Kebele. 2 Humanitarian and Disaster Resilience Plan, March

3 To respond to rapid onset of crises in a timely manner, UNICEF has pre-positioned supplies to meet the immediate lifesaving needs of 120,000 people. Prepositioned stocks are kept in Addis Ababa and in two regional hubs in Gambella and Somali regions. Summary Analysis of the Programme Response Nutrition In February, a total of 26,358 children were admitted for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) treatment across the country. Performance indicators of SAM treatment remain high (above SPHERE standards) at 92.5 per cent cure rate, 0.2 per cent death rate and 1.4 per cent default rate. Despite delayed and lower reporting due to lack of network connectivity, particularly in Amhara, SNNP and Oromia regions, the reporting rate in February was as high as 85.3 per cent. The total number of SAM admissions to date for 2018 is 51,953, aligned with the expected caseload (49, % of target reached). In the Somali region, SAM admissions remain high with 8,060 children treated. Dawee Zone reported a significant rise in admissions from 241 in January to 755 in February. This is possibly explained by the lack of access to food distributions for several months in some woredas in the zone because of access challenges. UNICEF is advocating with partners to prioritise targeted supplementary feeding services to children and pregnant and lactating mothers in this zone given the significant burden of internally displaced people (IDP), extended drought and lack of access to basic services. UNICEF is supporting the Oromia Regional Health Bureau to scale up support to 24 woredas currently hosting 51 prioritized sites for IDP with CMAM and Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) training for health workers in the respective health facilities. The training and subsequent IYCF counselling for caretakers will help in promoting optimal IYCF practices for better nutrition among children of IDPs. The five CMAM monitors currently deployed by UNICEF in the region quality check the delivery of nutrition services to the 51 sites, aiming at meeting the needs of 26,640 children (6-59 months old) and 10,755 pregnant and lactating women. As new packaging of therapeutic milk (from sachets to tins) is being introduced in the country, UNICEF has supported a series of training activities to orient Government, NGO and UN agencies to the new packaging and recipe preparation. To date, 60 participants from partner agencies/organisations at the national level and 480 health staff in five regions (Somali, Oromia, SNNP, Benishangul Gumuz and Amhara) have been reached. Health The number of acute watery diarrhea (AWD) cases continues to decrease at national level, with cases being reported only in the Somali region and no deaths reported. A high number of cases of scabies have been reported in Amhara, Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, SNNP and Tigray regions. UNICEF field offices in those regions are continuing to provide technical assistance in communication and coordination. The national reported number of suspected measles cases is 1,457 up to week 15 of 2018, out of which 461 cases were confirmed mainly from Addis Ababa, Somali, Oromia and SNNP regions. The Federal Ministry of Health, WHO and UNICEF conducted a joint review of the protracted measles outbreak in the Somali region to better understand its causes and provide key recommendations. The preliminary report recommends robust preparedness in the implementation of future measles campaigns to ensure coverage and quality. In response to the flooding in the Somali region, UNICEF supported mobile health and nutrition teams are providing essential health care to children, pregnant and lactating women, and whole communities without permanent health facilities. UNICEF is also supplying essential drug kits and medical supplies to mobile teams supported by other humanitarian partners. UNICEF provided five Emergency Drug Kits (EDKs) and renewable supplies to the conflict affected zones of East Hararghe, West Hararghe and Bale in Oromia region to meet the immediate needs of 50,000 IDPs. In addition, UNICEF provided 75 EDKs for Somali and 35 EDKs for Afar regions for the continued supply replenishment of the 49 mobile health and nutrition teams (MHNTs) deployed in these two regions. Each kit can provide 2,500 people with health care services for three months. Between January and March 2018, a total of 146,833 people received medical consultations from the 49 UNICEFsupported mobile health and nutrition teams, 11 teams supported by national NGOs, and six teams from the Regional Health Bureau in the Somali region. Thirty-eight percent of those targeted were under five while 36 per cent were women. In response to the inflow of South Sudanese asylum seekers in the Gambella region, the Regional Health Bureau, with UNICEF support, provided measles vaccinations to 2,050 children aged 15 years and below at entry points between 19 February and 15 March 2018, bringing the total number of immunized South Sudanese children in 2018 to 7,782. The monthly health cluster coordination meeting held on 24 April identified health as having the largest gaps in the IDP response, which include shortages of medicines and insufficient numbers of mobile health teams to support IDPs in remote and rural areas along the borders between Somali and Oromia regions. Health partners agreed to use the bulk of the expected EHF allocation of US$3 million for procurement of supplies and medicines and support to mobile health teams. 3

4 WASH The WASH Cluster is requesting US$29.4 million to meet its prioritized WASH needs until June So far, US$3.5 million of EHF and US$6.5 million of CERF funds have been allocated to water trucking and emergency sanitation for conflictaffected IDPs in the Oromia and Somali regions. However, significant needs remain, with 56.5 per cent and 76.1 per cent of the IDP populations in Somali and Oromia regions respectively drinking water from unprotected water sources. The conflict-affected IDPs are less likely to return to their places of origin, so they require durable solutions such as development of new water sources, extension of piped water systems and rehabilitation of non-functional water supply schemes. UNICEF continues to provide water and sanitation services to IDPs. Key activities include water trucking, sanitation (construction of latrines), hygiene promotion, distribution of non-food items (NFIs), and rehabilitation and expansion of water supply systems. For the conflict-affected IDPs, UNICEF has allocated 38 trucks for water trucking in Bale, West and East Hararge, and Guji zones in Oromia region reaching 160,000 individuals. In April, UNICEF s WASH response provided access to safe drinking water to 304,584 people and 231,148 people with key messages to improve hygiene practices. With the start of seasonal rains, plans to scale up water trucking have been discontinued. In response to the Somali Region floods, UNICEF is scaling up its WASH activities to help prevent and quickly respond to outbreaks in affected communities distributing water containers, water treatment chemicals, and other items essential for disease control in flood affected areas. Due to the increased influx of refugees to Nguenyyiel Camp, UNICEF is providing safe water to an additional 10,000 South Sudanese refugees. UNICEF s support through its interventions in Gambella is currently providing safe water to 223,000 South Sudanese refugees in Nguenyyiel, Tierkidi, and Kule camps. This is a continuation of UNICEF s support from 2017 with the additional refugee influx noted above. Child Protection In response to the conflict-affected IDPs in Somali region, UNICEF signed a partnership agreement with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) on child protection, including gender-based violence (GBV) in emergencies to reach 20,769 children and women. The core interventions include provision of community-based response services for unaccompanied and separated children (including family tracing and reunification), referral services, psychosocial support services (PSS) to children and women and promotion of community involvement in awareness raising and community mobilization for risk mitigation of GBV. A partnership agreement with the Bureau of Women s Affairs Technical Vocational Training College, Oromia is under finalisation to strengthen the quality of psychosocial services delivered by through social workers deployed to meet the needs of the IDPs. UNICEF conducted a child protection in emergencies training (CPiE) for 21 social workers (5 women, 16 men) recruited to support the child protection response in 12 IDP affected woredas in the Oromia region and 3 woredas in the Somali region. The training focused on building competencies for identification and referral of child protection cases, raising awareness about existing referral pathways and initiating case management for cases identified. In the Oromia region, with UNICEF s support, BoWCA identified 107 (52 girls, 55 boys) unaccompanied and separated children in 12 woredas hosting IDPs. Of these, 28 (3 girls, 25 boys) were reunified with their families/primary care givers and 33 children (all boys) were placed in community-based care arrangements. In the same region, 1,211 children (554 girls, 657 boys) received psychosocial support services through child-friendly spaces. In the Somali region, a four-day child protection training was provided to 60 frontline staff (27 women, 33 men) who directly deal with children s issues (i.e. Office of Women and Children Affairs, Justice, and Police) from 10 IDP hosting woredas. Following the training, frontline workers are better equipped to identify children in need of protection and make informed referrals. In the same region, with support from a UNICEF Stand-by Partner, the CP-GBV sub-cluster is leading a service mapping exercise of child protection and gender-based violence (GBV) response interventions to help inform the strengthening of referral pathways for child protection and GBV services. Support is also provided to the Somali field office on Information Management (IM) to review indicators for strengthened monitoring and reporting of the child protection response. In the Gambella region, UNICEF continued to strengthen PSS services in Therapeutic Feeding Centers (TFCs) both in the refugee camps and host communities. During the reporting period, nine baby-friendly corners located within TFCs in Terkidi, Nguenyyiel, Kule and Pugnido-2 refugee camps were furnished with recreational materials and psychosocial support training was provided to 70 (45 female and 25 male) social workers. The training enhanced the knowledge and skills of social workers to identify and provide targeted support for vulnerable children and caregivers attending the TFCs. In the same region, with support from UNICEF, International Medical Corps (IMC) reached 3,684 community members (2,493 women, 1,191 men), raising their awareness of GBV risks. The sessions focused on the benefits of early reporting of GBV incidents (within 72 hours) and availability of services (including GBV referral pathways) in Jewi and Terkidi refugee camps. In this reporting period, 490 unaccompanied minors (208 girls, 282 boys) were identified and registered during level III registration in Nguenyyiel Refugee Camp. Of these children, 75 (29 girls, 46 boys) were reunified with their families and 132 (60 girls, 72 boys) received psychosocial support for new arrivals from South Sudan at Pamdong reception center. 4

5 Education The rapid joint flood assessment in Somali region indicates that 72 schools and alternative basic education centers have been affected by the floods which occurred in April: 43 schools in Kelafo, 14 in Mustahil, 2 in Ferfer, 9 in Berano, and 4 in Adadle woredas. Education supplies were also damaged or washed away by the floods. A total of 22,276 students (12,311 boys and 10,065 girls) have had their education disrupted. Additionally, 24,297 students (12,392 boys and 11,905 girls) have been displaced with their families. Reports from the Oromia Field Office indicate that 122 schools in Borena, Guji, East Hararghe and West Hararghe Zones were partially or fully damaged as a result of the conflict along the border with Somali region. Verification of the damage to schools in the Somali region is pending. In the Somali region, a shortage of teachers for the newly-absorbed IDPs has been flagged as a major concern. The Regional Education Bureau is considering recruiting an additional 400 teachers to be trained over the summer in a 45-day certification course. It will be important to continue to keep a spotlight on the gap of teachers/educators as it will have an impact on the ability to provide a quality Education-in-Emergencies response. UNICEF in partnership with the NGOs Imagine 1 Day and Organization for Welfare and Development in Action (OWDA) has reached 8,700 displaced children with early childhood and primary level education in Oromia and Somali regions. The Education cluster reports that a shortage of funds continues to limit the Education-in-Emergency response. Communications for Development (C4D) UNICEF utilizes an integrated approach to community engagement in the Somali Region, incorporating elements from nutrition, health, child protection, and WASH. All of UNICEF s communications and community engagement activities are coordinated through the relevant clusters and sub-cluster working groups. With the aim of further enhancing community engagement and collective action, UNICEF built the capacity of 243 people from 30 woredas across three zones of Somali region through training conducted in February and April The trained individuals are responsible for reactivating Kebele level social mobilization platforms in 377 Kebeles in the 3 Zones. The training was particularly important given the need to prevent disease outbreaks and promote health in the current flooding situation where people are using unsafe/untreated rain water. Post training follow up in Shebelle zone has shown that with the reactivation of the social mobilization committees at the village/kebele level, people in the community have started taking collective actions such as digging latrines. A case in point is Kaayane Kebele which had only 10 latrines by end of 2017 and now has 75 latrines and 16 were under construction in the first week of April. UNICEF s C4D support has also continued in the targeted 42 IDP sites in the Somali region. Each IDP site now has social mobilization committees and volunteers and at least 10 mother-to-mother support groups. Mother-to-mother groups have been conducting regular discussions with mothers while volunteers have been helping with interpersonal communication in the sites. Anecdotal evidence indicates that health-seeking behavior (e.g. institutional delivery) has been increasing in some health centers where UNICEF has IDP interventions. Media and External Communication UNICEF Ethiopia issued a press release announcing the Swedish grant of US$ 3 million to the 2018 Humanitarian Action for Children. Photographers dispatched with field missions to the Oromia and Somali regions could not obtain the required photographs due to challenges with accessing IDP sites. UNICEF also continued to attend the Ethiopia Humanitarian Country Team (EHCT) Emergency Communications Working Group. Funding UNICEF Ethiopia is appealing for US$111.8 million for its emergency interventions in The amount includes US$15.3 million for the response to refugees. In April 2018, UNICEF Ethiopia received US$3 million from the Government of Sweden and US$495,739 from the Government of Canada. UNICEF Ethiopia, wishes to thank both the Government of Sweden and Canada for the flexible funding to meet the most urgent and life-saving needs of internally displaced persons in the Oromia and Somali regions. UNICEF currently has a funding gap of US$84 million (75 per cent). Critical funding is needed to respond to the reported cases of scabies that require a coordinated response through health and WASH with C4D interventions. There are still significant funding gaps to meet the needs of IDPs in-country and recent displacements continue to stretch very limited Government and humanitarian capacity. 5

6 UNICEF Ethiopia funding status as of 30 April 2018 Appeal Sector Requirements Funds available US$* Funding gap US$ Funds Received Current Year Carry over* $ % Nutrition 41,610,000 4,519,392 4,373,071 32,717,537 79% Health 14,036, ,748 1,791,444 11,340,248 81% WASH 43,475,500 8,563,236 3,542,307 31,369,957 72% Child Protection 3,829, ,843 1,339,356 2,189,664 57% Education 8,859, ,795 1,877,059 6,545,282 74% Total 111,810,939 14,725,014 12,923,237 84,162,688 75% ** In addition, UNICEF Ethiopia has supplies for nutrition, carried over to 2018 valued at US$10 million *** Funds available include funding received against current appeal as well as carry-over from the previous year. *** In addition to the above funding, to fill critical gaps in the response for IDPs, UNICEF Ethiopia received a loan in the amount of US$3 million from the Emergency Programme Fund of UNICEF Headquarters. Next SitRep: 31 May 2018 Who to contact for further information: Gillian Mellsop Representative UNICEF Ethiopia Tel: Fax: gmellsop@unicef.org Alhaji Bah Chief-Field Operations and Emergency UNICEF Ethiopia Tel: Fax: abah@unicef.org Victor Chinyama Chief-Communication, Advocacy, Partnerships UNICEF, Ethiopia Tel: Fax: vchinyama@unicef.org UNICEF Ethiopia: Facebook: Twitter: UNICEF Ethiopia Humanitarian Action for Children Appeal: 6

7 Annex A SUMMARY OF PROGRAMME RESULTS 2018 NUTRITION Children under 5, including refugee children, treated for SAM Children received vitamin A supplementation HEALTH Women and children under 5 accessing essential maternal and child health services People affected by acute watery diarrhoea accessing life-saving curative interventions Children immunized against measles (refugee) WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE People accessing sufficient water of appropriate quality and quantity People reached with key messages on hygiene practices CHILD PROTECTION Girls and boys provided with psychosocial support, including access to child-friendly spaces with multi-sectoral programming interventions Unaccompanied and separated girls and boys reunified with their families and/or placed in appropriate alternative care Children and women provided with risk mitigation, prevention or response interventions to address gender-based violence EDUCATION School-aged children, including adolescents, accessing quality education Overall needs* 2018 Target Cluster Response Total Results Change since last report UNICEF and IPs 2018 Target Total Results Change since last report 350, ,111 51,953 27, ,611 53,673 27, ,500,000 1,197,309 1,197, , ,785 38, ,000 7,782 1,371 6,860,000 6,860, ,889 1,308,049 3,110,000 1,305, ,584 5,900,000 5,900, , ,262 1,760, , ,148 30,000 30,000 3,449-58,300 2,444 1,343 5, , ,000 55, , ,190,000 2,190,000 1,181,278 1,181, ,000 8,700 8,700 7