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Chad: Tchad : Revue de Presse Humanitaire du 10 au 16 mai 2013

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Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Country: Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Nigeria, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Au menu:

· Tchad : ouverture d'un sommet sur le développement durable, la pauvreté et le climat (AFP, 11/05/13)

· Le Tchadien Djimet Adoum nommé secrétaire exécutif du CILSS (AFP, 13/05/13)

· Canada provides emergency assistance for refugees and displaced in eastern Chad (CIDA, 13/05/13)

· Nigeria declares 'massive' military campaign on borders (BBC, 15/05/13)

· Greening: We must break the cycle of food shortages in Western Africa (DFID, 15/05/13)

· UN envoy says CAR in 'state of anarchy' (Al Jazeera, 16/05/13)


Niger: ICRC supports herders in Agadez and Tillabery areas

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Source: ICRC
Country: Libya, Mali, Niger

Geneva/Niamey (ICRC) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is purchasing approximately 8,000 head of cattle from herdsmen in the Tillabery and Agadez areas (in the west and north of the country, respectively) to support communities made vulnerable by the combined effects of climate and of conflict in Mali and Libya..

"Thousands of people fleeing the effects of the conflict in northern Mali have found refuge in the Tillabery area. Some of them arrived with their herds, which increased the pressure on resources that were already insufficient to meet the needs of indigenous herdsmen," said Jean-Nicolas Marti, head of the ICRC regional delegation for Niger and Mali. "Further north, herders are feeling the effects of the instability prevailing in Libya and hindering economic activity. They are weakened by their isolation and by the difficulty of reaching markets."

The traditional paths of the seasonal migration of livestock have now generally become impassable throughout the area, harming cross-border trade. While above-average rainfall last year resulted in improved availability of grazing and water resources for cattle, there remain some pockets of drought.

"The purchase of these animals will take some pressure off grazing lands and give herders money they can use to buy grain and feed their families," said Mr Marti. "The animals purchased will be distributed, either alive or slaughtered, to the neediest."

In the Tillabery area, some 2,000 animals will be purchased in Abala, Ayorou, Bankilaré and Ouallam. In the Agadez area, around 6,000 will be purshased in Tchirozérine, Dabaga, Aderbissanat, Tabélot, Timia, Gougaram, Dannat and Iférouane.

In addition, under a major programme of support for herdsmen provided jointly by Niger's livestock ministry and the ICRC, around three million animals have been vaccinated and treated against disease in the two areas since the beginning of the year. Feed banks for livestock have been set up to enable herders to obtain fodder at affordable prices, and veterinary assistants have been trained in order to ease access to animal health services. Over 300 herdsmen in the Agadez area who are also farmers will receive assistance enabling them to produce the fodder they need.

For further information, please contact: Gervais Valery Mbaoh Nana, ICRC Niamey, tel: +227 97 45 43 82 Wolde-Gabriel Saugeron, ICRC Geneva, tel: +41 22 730 31 49 or +41 79 244 64 05

Mali: Rebuilding of Mali faces daunting obstacles, despite outside aid

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Source: New York Times
Country: Mali

DAKAR, Senegal — The outpouring of support may be more a sign of nervousness than altruism.

Read the full report

Mali: Complex Coverage - 14 May 2013

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Source: NATO Civil-Military Fusion Centre
Country: Iraq, Mali, Syrian Arab Republic
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This document provides complex coverage of global events from 07 – 13 May 2013 with hyperlinks to source material highlighted in blue and underlined in the text. For more information on the topics below or other issues pertaining to events in the region, contact the members of the Complex Coverage Team or visit our website at www.cimicweb.org.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Iraq 1
Mali 2
Syria 3
IED/Demining 5

Mali: Sahel Crisis 2013: Funding Status as of 17 May 2013

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Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Country: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal
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Mali: Secretary-General appoints Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders of the Netherlands as Special Representative for Mali

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Source: UN Secretary-General
Country: Mali

SG/A/1404
AFR/2620
*BIO/4471

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointment of Albert Gerard (Bert) Koenders of the Netherlands as his Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA).

Mr. Koenders has served as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) since October 2011.

He brings with him more than 25 years of experience in national politics, international affairs and development. As Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation (2007-2010), Mr. Koenders was involved in integrated peace support initiatives in Afghanistan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan. He also served as a member of the Netherlands House of Representatives (1997-2007).

Mr. Koenders founded the Parliamentary Network on the World Bank/International Monetary Fund and was President of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Parliamentary Assembly. He also served with the European Commission and the United Nations in Mozambique, and was Foreign Policy Adviser to several Dutch Members of Parliament.

A graduate of the Free University of Amsterdam, Mr. Koenders holds a master’s degree in international economics and African studies from Johns Hopkins University and was Visiting Professor for Conflict Management at Johns Hopkins University in Bologna (2000-2002).

Mr. Koenders was born in the Netherlands in 1958.

This supersedes BIO/4306 of 2 August 2011.

For information media • not an official record

Niger: Niger Bulletin humanitaire numéro 19 - 17 mai 2013

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Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Country: Mali, Niger, Nigeria
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FAITS SAILLANTS

  • De nouveaux cas de choléra enregistrés à Tillabéry et Niamey, une amélioration de la desserte en eau de la ville d’Ayorou serait une piste de solution à l’épidémie
  • Baisse subite des prix des céréales à Zinder
  • Flambée de cas de rougeole à Zinder et Agadez

Mali: UN chief appoints head of peacekeeping mission in Mali

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Source: UN News Service
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali

17 May 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today appointed Albert Gerard Koenders of the Netherlands as the head of the recently approved United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali.

Mr. Koenders will serve as Mr. Ban’s Special Representative in the country and will lead the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission (MINUSMA), which is tasked with supporting the political process in the country, in close coordination with the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

The Mission will help the Malian authorities to implement the transitional roadmap towards the full restoration of constitutional order, democratic governance and national unity. This includes the holding of elections in July, confidence-building and facilitation of reconciliation at the national and local levels.

Mr. Koenders has been the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) since October 2011. To fill Mr. Koenders’ post in Côte d’Ivoire, Mr. Ban is appointing Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane of Niger, who has been serving as Deputy Joint Special Representative in the African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).

Also today, Mr. Ban announced that Haile Menkerios of South Africa will be his new Special Representative and Head of the UN Office to the African Union (UNOAU). Mr. Menkerios will also continue his current assignment as the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan.

Mr. Menkerios will replace Zachary Muburi-Muita, to whom Mr. Ban is grateful for his dedicated service with UNOAU since its establishment in 2010 and for deepening the African Union-UN strategic partnership.

Carlos Alberto Dos Santos Cruz of Brazil was also appointed today by Mr. Ban as Force Commander of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

Lieutenant General Santos Cruz succeeds Lieutenant General Chander Prakash Wadhwa of India, who completed his assignment on 31 March. Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated and effective service during his tenure of over two years in MONUSCO.


Burkina Faso: Finding local solutions in a regional food crisis

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Source: UN Children's Fund
Country: Burkina Faso

By Shantha Bloemen

DORI, Burkina Faso, 16 May 2013 - After 35 days at Dori Hospital, 15 of them in a coma, 2-year-old Mariama now weighs 6.5 kilograms and is on the road to recovery. When she arrived, she weighed just five kilograms and was suffering from severe malnutrition with complications. Over the last two years, this referral hospital in the hot and dry north of Burkina Faso has seen a steady flow of such cases, as a large-scale nutrition crisis across nine countries of the Sahel region has left more than a million children at risk for or suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

A landlocked and poor country of 17 million people, Burkina Faso may be one of Africa’s biggest gold producers, but it remains one of its poorest. In the northern region, increased desertification has seen the expansion of the Sahara desert southward, while pressure from population growth has made the area increasingly fragile. Although reports indicate this year’s agricultural harvest has improved, estimates suggest that around 430,000 children will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2013, including 100,000 with severe acute malnutrition.

A mix of factors

Mariama’s story illustrates the complex mix of factors behind these numbers. When Mariama was just 14 months old, her 30-year-old mother, Aissato Hame, became pregnant again and stopped breastfeeding. The decision left Mariama without enough to eat. With four other young mouths to feed, and little food in their village, her parents started prospecting for gold. But the family was still unable to earn the 2,000 CFA a day (around US$4) needed to feed everyone. As a result, Mariama’s health deteriorated until her mother finally brought her to the hospital.

Now her mother has been taught how to make an affordable nutritious porridge with peanuts and has received a week’s supply of ready-to-use therapeutic foods, and Mariama can go home. The hospital, with support from UNICEF and Médecins du Monde, provides transport so she can return the following week for a check-up and receive another week’s supply of Plumpy’Nut, a high-energy peanut paste. Treatment will continue until her health is better.

From cure to prevention

Community Health workers Matrama and Amado Diallo go door-to-door in their village to educate parents and check for cases of children who may be suffering from malnutrition. One of their biggest challenges is not just the shortage of food, but also entrenched cultural attitudes that prevent children from getting nutritious food. “If children eat eggs, the father will leave you,” says one mother as she pounds sorghum into powder for porridge.

By educating families on good nutritious food practices, Matrama and Amado are starting to see a difference in the communities they serve. They say families are now aware of the link between nutrition and disease and illness. They can also identify the signs of acute malnutrition.

To help expand services like this across the country, a multi-sector Scaling Up Nutrition roadmap was adopted in May 2012, led by the Ministry of Health, with backing from UNICEF, WFP and NGOs, and supported by the European Union.

“This plan provides a way to get us to shift the focus to prevention of malnutrition, without losing sight of the need to treat new cases of acute malnutrition,” explains Marco Brero, a nutrition specialist with UNICEF Burkina Faso. “The focus is very much on building the institutional systems to deal with the crisis now, but also invest in the future.”

Homegrown solutions

Students from Foundation 2LE in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ougadogou, have built Inne Faso, a local factory to produce Plumpy’Nut. Just becoming operational, this franchise of Nutriset, the developer of Plumpy’Nut, is awaiting a final audit before it starts to sell its product locally, and eventually across the region. Managing Director Abdourazackou Sanoussi believes this investment will not only help address the high rates of acute malnutrition, but also create employment as well as a market for high-grade local peanuts.

For Burkina Faso, the hope is that with the right investments in education and resilience-building, acute malnutrition will be a thing of the past, and life for those living in the poorest parts of the Sahel will not be on the edge of survival.

Updated: 17 May 2013

Niger: Soutien aux éleveurs des régions d'Agadez et de Tillabery

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Source: ICRC
Country: Libya, Mali, Niger

Genève / Niamey (CICR) – Pour soutenir des communautés rendues vulnérables par les effets conjugués de facteurs climatiques et des conséquences de conflits armés dans la région (Mali et Libye), une opération de rachat d'environ 8 000 têtes de bétail aux éleveurs des régions de Tillabery et d'Agadez – respectivement dans l'ouest et dans le nord du pays – vient d'être lancée par le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR).

« Des milliers de personnes fuyant les conséquences du conflit dans le nord du Mali ont trouvé refuge dans la région de Tillabery. Certaines sont venues avec leurs troupeaux, renforçant la pression sur des ressources déjà insuffisantes pour satisfaire les besoins des éleveurs autochtones », explique Jean-Nicolas Marti, chef de la délégation du CICR pour le Niger et le Mali. « Plus au nord, les éleveurs subissent les effets de l'instabilité qui prévaut en Libye, et qui entrave l'activité économique. Ils sont fragilisés par l'enclavement et les difficultés d'accès aux marchés ».

De façon générale, ce sont les routes traditionnelles de transhumance du bétail qui sont aujourd'hui rendues impraticables dans toute cette zone, ce qui nuit aux échanges économiques transfrontaliers. Par ailleurs, si une pluviométrie au-dessus de la moyenne a permis l'année dernière une meilleure disponibilité de pâturages et d'eau pour le bétail, des poches de sécheresse subsistent.

« Le rachat de ces animaux réduira la pression sur les pâturages et permettra aux éleveurs de disposer d'un peu d'argent pour acheter des céréales pour nourrir leurs familles, explique M. Marti. Par ailleurs, les bêtes rachetées seront redistribuées – abattues ou sur pied – aux ménages les plus vulnérables ».

Ainsi, dans la région de Tillabery, quelque 2 000 animaux seront rachetés dans les communes d'Abala, Ayorou, Bankilaré et Ouallam. Dans la région d'Agadez, l'opération vise 6 000 bêtes dans les communes de Tchirozérine, Dabaga, Aderbissanat, Tabélot, Timia, Gougaram, Dannat et Iférouane.

En outre, grâce à un important programme de soutien aux éleveurs mené conjointement par le ministère nigérien de l'Élevage et le CICR, environ 3 millions d'animaux ont été vaccinés et traités dans ces mêmes régions, depuis janvier 2013 . Des banques d’aliments pour le bétail ont par ailleurs été mises en place afin de permettre aux éleveurs de se procurer du fourrage à des prix abordables, et des auxiliaires vétérinaires ont été formés pour faciliter l’accès à des services de santé animale. Enfin, plus de 300 éleveurs pratiquant également l’agriculture dans la région d'Agadez vont recevoir une aide, afin qu’ils puissent produire le fourrage dont ils ont besoin.

Informations complémentaires :

Gervais Valery Mbaoh Nana, CICR Niamey, tél. : +227 97 45 43 82
Wolde-Gabriel Saugeron, CICR Genève, tél. : +41 22 730 31 49 ou +41 79 244 64 05

Mali: Kidal : Réponse d'urgence sur les sites de Talhandak

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Source: Solidarités International
Country: Mali

Fuir… Fuir un contexte que l’on ne maitrise pas et chercher à se mettre à l’abri. Marcher au Nord pour passer une frontière où la sécurité des siens sera assurée. Depuis février 2013, c’est ce que 750 familles soit 4 200 personnes ont espéré, laissant tout derrière eux pour passer la frontière algérienne.

Mais lorsque cette dernière se ferme, que faire ? Installer un campement de fortune dans une commune proche de son lieu d’arrivée et attendre. Attendre que le contexte s’apaise pour pouvoir rentrer chez soi.

C’est ainsi que le village de Talhandak a vu sa population multipliée par 5 en quelques semaines ; des familles de déplacés, avec femmes et enfants, et parfois un peu de bétail, arrivant jour après jour, fuyant les combats et les rumeurs qui parcourent le Nord du Mali. Mais ce village n’était pas préparé à ces arrivées. Les points d’eau de la zone n’étant pas dimensionnés pour un tel afflux de personnes. Un seul forage existait dans le village avec un faible débit.

Les ménages ne disposaient alors que de 2,6 litres d’eau par jour et par personne, une quantité bien en deçà du seuil d'urgence.

S’ajoutait à cela une situation en sécurité alimentaire plus que préoccupante. Les frontières algériennes étant fermées, l’approvisionnement en nourriture ne pouvait s’effectuer qu’illégalement, en petite quantité, de manière irrégulière et couteuse, forçant les ménages à réduire leur consommation de nourriture.

C’est à cette situation d’urgence que les équipes de Solidarités International ont dû faire face et qui les a conduit à mettre en place une réponse humanitaire appropriée, en coordination avec Médecins du Monde Belgique et la Comité International de la Croix Rouge. Les équipes de Solidarités International sont ainsi allées à la rencontre de ces familles, installées sous des tentes de fortunes, privées de source de revenu, d’eau et de nourriture.

Les résultats du diagnostic conduit par Solidarités International ont ainsi démontré la nécessité de mettre en œuvre une réponse d’urgence pour venir en aide à ces populations vulnérables. Durant plusieurs semaines et encore à l’heure actuelle, des distributions d’eau ont lieu, chaque jour, sur deux sites, permettant à la population locale et déplacée de s’approvisionner en eau, tout en disposant des moyens nécessaires pour transporter cette eau et la traiter. Des séances de sensibilisation sur les bonnes pratiques d’hygiène ont également lieu, permettant de diminuer le risque d’exposition à des maladies liées à une mauvaise hygiène. Ce sont ainsi 920 familles au total soit 750 familles de déplacés ou retournés et 170 familles du village qui ont pu bénéficier des distributions d’eau et de kits. Dans le même temps, la coordination des acteurs humanitaires a permis d’assurer des distributions de vivre, et des soins médicaux.

La situation de ces familles reste, encore à l’heure actuelle, extrêmement précaire, les déplacés ne cessant d’arriver et les équipes de Solidarités International redoublent d’effort pour leur venir en aide et trouver des solutions plus pérennes, pour enfin sortir de cette urgence humanitaire.

Mali: Ban nomme les nouveaux Représentants spéciaux pour le Mali et la Côte d'Ivoire

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Source: UN News Service
Country: Côte d'Ivoire, Mali

17 mai 2013 – Le Secrétaire général des Nations Unies, Ban Ki-moon, a annoncé vendredi la nomination d'Aichatou Mindaoudou Souleymane, du Niger, au poste de Représentante spéciale pour la Côte d'Ivoire, en remplacement de Bert Koenders, des Pays-Bas, nomméà la tête de la Mission multidimensionnelle intégrée des Nations Unies pour la stabilisation au Mali (MINUSMA).

Mme Mindaoudou fut nommée en juin 2011 Représentante spéciale adjointe de l'Opération hybride Union africaine-Nations Unies au Darfour (MINUAD), avant de devenir d'août 2012 à mars 2013 responsable des affaires politiques et Représentante spéciale par intérim.

Au cours de sa carrière, longue de plus de 20 ans, Mme Mindaoudou a occupé plusieurs postes au sein du gouvernement du Niger et de la Communauté économique des États de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (CEDEAO).

De son côté, le nouveau patron de la MINUSMA, Bert Koenders, était depuis octobre 2011 le Représentant spécial du Secrétaire général pour la Côte d'Ivoire et chef de l'Opération des Nations Unies en Côte d'Ivoire (ONUCI).

M. Koenders, qui fut aux Pays-Bas ministre de la coopération et du développement entre 2007 et 2010, a également occupé plusieurs postes au sein de l'Union européenne et de l'ONU.

Mali: Mali: l'émissaire malien pour le Nord rencontre Compaoré

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Source: Agence France-Presse
Country: Mali

05/20/2013 14:39 GMT

OUAGADOUGOU, 20 mai 2013 (AFP) - L'émissaire malien Tiébilé Dramé a rencontré lundi à Ouagadougou le président burkinabè Blaise Compaoré, médiateur régional dans la crise malienne, qui compte engager dans les "prochains jours" des discussions avec les groupes armés occupant la ville de Kidal (nord-est).

Récemment nommé conseiller spécial pour le nord du Mali, l'ancien ministre a été reçu par M. Compaoré, médiateur pour le compte de la Communauté économique des Etats d'Afrique de l'Ouest (Cédéao), qui était accompagné de son chef de la diplomatie Djibrill Bassolé.

L'émissaire du président malien de transition Dioncounda Traoré n'a pas fait de déclaration à la sortie.

"L'urgence pour eux (les responsables maliens, ndlr) et pour la médiation, c'est la libération de Kidal. Après l'élection, un gouvernement légitime pourra mieux examiner les revendications des groupes rebelles du nord du Mali", a déclaré à l'AFP M. Bassolé après l'entretien.

Kidal, ville du nord-est du Mali, est occupée par deux groupes armés touareg: le Mouvement national de libération de l'Azawad (MNLA) et le Mouvement islamique de l'Azawad (MIA), dissident des islamistes armés d'Ansar Dine. Ils refusent l'entrée de l'armée et de l'Etat maliens dans la ville, hypothéquant la tenue de l'élection présidentielle prévue dans le pays en juillet.

Selon M. Bassolé, la médiation burkinabè souhaite ouvrir dans les "prochains jours" des négociations avec le MNLA, le MIA ainsi que le Mouvement arabe de l'Azawad (MAA), un autre groupe armé.

"La question n'est pas simple mais il y a déjà des acquis", a-t-il affirmé, rappelant qu'une déclaration solennelle avait été faite en décembre 2012 à Ouagadougou par les "groupes armés non terroristes" garantissant le "principe de respecter l'intégrité du territoire malien, le principe de laïcité, de rejet du terrorisme et le principe d'accepter le redéploiement de l'administration d'Etat sur toute l'étendue du territoire".

"Aujourd'hui plus que jamais, ces principes sont d'actualité", a-t-il jugé.

Pour permettre la tenue d'élections, "il faut naturellement que le territoire soit réunifié, que les groupes armés maliens qui tiennent encore quelques positions acceptent de désarmer et acceptent de rentrer dans un processus de normalisation", a ajouté le ministre burkinabè.

La mission de M. Dramé est "d'établir les contacts avec tous les groupes armés en vue de créer un environnement sain pour permettre la tenue de l'élection présidentielle sur toute l'étendue du territoire national", a-t-on précisé de source officielle malienne.

Son déplacement au Burkina Faso est le premier voyage à l'étranger effectué par cet émissaire dans le cadre de sa mission.

Une élection présidentielle, réclamée par la communauté internationale, est prévue au Mali en juillet. Le président Dioncounda Traoré a assuré la semaine dernière qu'il "ferait tout" pour qu'elle débute le 28 juillet.

La principale difficulté sera d'organiser le scrutin dans le nord du pays, en raison de la situation à Kidal et des attaques sporadiques menées par les jihadistes, qui occupaient la région depuis 2012 avant d'en être chassés depuis janvier par une opération militaire franco-africaine.

roh-sd/tmo/sd

© 1994-2013 Agence France-Presse

World: Managing acute malnutrition at scale - A review of donor and government financing arrangements (Network Paper Issue 75)

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Source: ODI - Humanitarian Practice Network
Country: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sudan, Viet Nam, World, Yemen

Introduction

This review is concerned with the financing arrangements for programmes that address acute malnutrition at scale through the community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). The CMAM approach is geared towards the early detection, treatment and counselling of moderately and severely acutely malnourished children, in the community, by community agents.

Until the late 1990s, treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) was through therapeutic feeding centres in hospitals and healthcare centres. Performance was poor, coverage was extremely limited (less than 5% of the SAM population), mortality was often in excess of 30% and recovery rates were low. The CMAM approach was first piloted in Ethiopia in 1999 as an alternative to the centre-based model.
Development of the approach offered the prospect of dramatically increased access to successful treatment and coverage.

CMAM has been adopted in over 65 countries. In 2011, just under two million children under five years of age with SAM were reported as being admitted to CMAM programmes, compared with just over one million in 2009.1 While this large increase partly reflects improved reporting, it is also indicative of the ongoing scaling up of treatment of SAM. Even so, total reported admissions represent just 10–15% of the estimated 20m global SAM cases annually.

Read the full paper

Gambia: Daa Nyeeno Food Security and Market Information Bulletin for The Gambia, 8 May 2013

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Source: World Food Programme
Country: Gambia

Highlights:

Following the 2011/2 Sahel crisis, protracted food insecurity continues into 2013 in pockets of the country. Humanitarian needs remain for 40,000 people affected subsequently by 2011 drought and 2012 floods in rural and vulnerable urban areas.

Overall food production recovers but remains below potential due to overabundant rains, scar-city of seeds and inaccessibility of fertilizer. Food availability through commercial markets is stable and covers domestic cereal needs. Food access remains a major challenge for a growing number of households due to high food prices and eroding purchasing power.

Groundnut farmers benefit from significantly better terms of trade and improved purchasing power than in 2011/12 due to increasing demand and price competition. Scarcity of seeds and low access to fertilizer remains a challenge and limits growth potential.

Annual food price inflation (at 6% in December 2012) remains above overall consumer price inflation (5%). Rice prices at retail level reach a new peak in the last quarter of 2012, at 11% above 2011 and 10% above the 2008 food price crisis levels. Introduction of Value Added Tax in 2013 spurs public debate over high food prices and increasing cost of living.

Outbreak of livestock disease puts at immediate risk half of national livestock population. While 4,000 heads of cattle are reported dead, over 56% of animals so far provided with vaccines.
Malnutrition levels (wasting) of children under-5 nearly reach ‘serious’ threshold at 9.9% in Sep-tember 2012. Two regions record ’critical’ levels of chronic malnutrition (stunting) at over 30%.
Recommendations for Government and Partners:
For immediate action (May—July)

  • Protracted humanitarian needs and deteriorating nutrition outcomes require continuation of countrywide livelihood and nutrition response in view of upcoming hungry season

  • Countrywide livestock vaccination should intensify to contain cattle pneumonia while support to affected cattle holders should be considered in view of upcoming hungry season

  • Comprehensive food security and livelihood assessment required to determine food security and livelihood status of rural households following the drought, floods and cattle disease

  • Rainfall, disease and food price monitoring requires significant strengthening and better linkage with policy and operational decision making processes to enable early action For mid- to long term action (4-18 Months)

  • Extension services should be strengthened and the involvement of local communities in early warning, disaster risk reduction and emergency response should be intensified

  • Development and relief interventions should be geared towards the strengthening of long-term household and community resilience in view of growing vulnerability to economic and climate shocks


Mauritania: In a refugee camp, getting more children in school and more schools for children

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Source: UN Children's Fund
Country: Mali, Mauritania

20 May 2013: UNICEF correspondent Chris Niles reports on efforts to ensure that Malian refugee children return to school.

By Anthea Moore and Brahim Ould Isselmou

As the crisis in Mali carries on, refugee children in Mauritania need space to learn.

MBERA CAMP, Mauritania, 20 May 2013 – Although he is only 15, Malal Guisse has already had a hard journey. When crisis arose last year in his native Mali, he moved from his village of Léré, in Timbuktu Region, to the region of Segou in the south, where he lived with his aunt in Niono. He then moved across the border to the Mbera refugee camp in Mauritania.

In Mbera, Malal lives with his grandmother, Fatimata, who raised him after he lost his parents. Fatimata is in her 70s, weakened by age and illness. Her grandson is a source of hope in her life.

“He goes to school, and that fills me with joy!” she says.

Education and opportunity

Mauritania is the largest recipient of refugees fleeing the crisis in Mali. There are around 74,000 Malian refugees in Mbera camp, 58 per cent of them children under 18. With continued insecurity as well as a food crisis in northern Mali, many have been in Mbera for over a year.

“I am happy to go to school, because we have shoes and exercise books. We don’t need to buy pens. We don’t buy anything – we just come!” Malal says. “School has opened my mind with lessons so I can work.”

UNICEF and partners are providing formal schooling in the Malian curriculum for 6,294 primary school students and 249 secondary school students. Girls make up 49 per cent of primary school students, but only 22 per cent of secondary school students. However, many more girls than boys are attending the youth literacy programmes targeting 13- to 17-year-olds – 527 youths, 71 per cent of them girls, are taking advantage of the chance to ‘catch up’ by learning to read and write. In addition, preschool children are welcome in child-friendly spaces, where they benefit from recreational activities and psychosocial support.

Big achievements, big gaps

Moulaye Dahmane, a French teacher in the school, says, “UNICEF has been very helpful for children by providing all the school furniture, the guides and manuals for the teachers.”

Nonetheless, underfunding means that demand for educational resources continues to outstrip supply.

“So far, we have set up six schools which cater for only 7,000 children out of around 30,000 school-age children in the refugee camp,” says UNICEF Education Officer Taleb Bouya. “We need to do much more to offer education to 23,000 children through school creation, equipment, teacher recruitment and training.”

With additional funding, UNICEF plans to expand the number of schools, provide tables and benches and build semi-permanent school structures.

“Our main concern is shelter,” Malal’s teacher Mohamed El Hadi says. “We have temporary school shelters that cannot withstand the wind and the bad weather. We already have overcrowded classes with 70 to 80 pupils, and because of the lack of shelter we have to put classes together. It becomes impossible to work in those conditions.”

In partnership with Mauritania’s Ministry of Education, UNHCR, Intersos, Lutheran World Federation, local NGO ESD and the Mauritanian Red Crescent, UNICEF will expand its interventions to cover more children and add job training for youth who complete the literacy programme.

“Education is what remains after everything is gone,” says Hama Ould Baba, the school director. “If you lose everything, knowledge remains. The future of our community lies in education.”

Fatimata, too, knows that the key to her grandson’s future – and her own – lies in education. So far he has done well in school.

“If he succeeds at school, he will understand everything. If he knows nothing – I am old, I can’t do anything,” she says. “When he completes school, he will be able to work and take care of me.”

World: Global Emergency Overview Snapshot 13 - 21 May 2013

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Source: Assessment Capacities Project
Country: Afghanistan, Angola, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Haiti, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Malawi, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Pakistan, Philippines, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, World, Yemen, Zimbabwe, South Sudan (Republic of)
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Snapshot 13 – 21 May

In Syria, the Syrian military continued its offensive on opposition-controlled Qusayr, a strategic city in Homs province connecting the capital to the Mediterranean coast. In addition, fighting continues in all of the 14 governorates, apart from Tartous and As-Sweida. On 19 May, President al-Assad insisted he would not resign before elections in 2014. The UN estimates that over 6.8 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in Syria. While an estimated 4.25 million people are internally displaced, of which 1.25 million are concentrated in Aleppo and 705,200 in rural Damascus, the number of Syrians registered or awaiting registration in host countries has surpassed 1.5 million.

The crisis currently unfolding in the Central African Republic is now affecting the entire population of the country, some 4.6 million people, of which 2.3 million are children. According to UNICEF, the poor security situation across the country is severely hindering planned food distributions and other essential supplies from reaching beneficiaries. In addition, access is largely limited to towns and populations along main roads as of mid-May. Throughout the country, human rights abuses committed by Seleka rebel fighters, loyal to the new authorities, are reported by international organizations.

Military operations between warring parties have intensified in Sudan’s Darfur. According to an estimate released last week by OCHA, some 300,000 people have been forcibly displaced in Darfur since the beginning of this year as a result of inter-tribal fighting and conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces and armed rebel groups.

Over the last week, Myanmar and Bangladesh have been affected by the tropical cyclone Mahasen even though the latter had considerably weakened over the past week and become a tropical storm as it made landfall. Although important damages and casualties were reported, both countries were nevertheless largely relieved that the results of the passing of Mahasen were not much worse. The storm had forced the evacuation of 1 million people to shelters. Preliminary estimates indicate that over 70 people were killed either by cyclone Mahasen or while trying to flee its impact in Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Last Updated: 21/05/2013 Next Update: 27/05/2013

Global Emergency Overview web interface

Somalia: FSNAU Nutrition Update March - April 2013

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Source: Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit
Country: Somalia
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OVERVIEW

The FSNAU integrated nutrition situation analysis in January 2013 had indicated that the emergency levels of malnutrition (GAM 15-30 percent) seen in Bakool Pastoral, Juba riverine, Southern Gedo and Mataban district since Gu 2012 will be sustained. An improvement in other livelihoods from emergency levels (GAM 15-30 percent) levels to crisis levels (GAM 10-14.9 percent) was expected.

Due to prevailing insecurity, nutrition assessments could not be conducted in Lower and Middle Shabelle regions. The available health facility data then was also not sufficient to classify the nutrition situation in these areas. However the historical data and unwinding food security situation was used to project GAM levels of 10-14.9 percent (serious situation) for February-April 2013. The nutrition situation across livelihoods in Northern and Central Somalia was also serious while situation in livelihood zones of West Golis /Guban in Northwest and Coastal Deeh in Central regions was critical (GAM ≥ 15 percent). The nutrition situation in Sool plateau livelihood was acceptable (GAM < 5 percent).

World: Medical care in the line of fire

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Source: ICRC, MSF
Country: Afghanistan, Bahrain, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mali, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, World

Armed men in hospitals, harassing patients; health facilities used to identify and apprehend enemies; clinics abandoned and hospitals destroyed. Overwhelmed emergency services, where medical staff are in terror of reprisals for having provided care for a patient; ambulances blocked from accessing the wounded, or held up for hours at checkpoints; entrenched animosities and divisions denying certain groups of people the medical assistance they need.

The ICRC and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) strongly condemn any act that deliberately aims to distort medical action, and to deny healthcare to the wounded and the sick. A patient cannot be an enemy. The sick and the injured are not combatants. Medical ethics oblige all health workers to care for all patients and to keep the medical act free from interference. Medical staff must act impartially, prioritising the delivery of care solely on medical grounds. In order to do that, the places where they work - ambulances, mobile clinics, health posts and hospitals - must be safe, neutral spaces.

However, from Syria to the Democratic Republic of Congo, from Bahrain to Mali to Sudan, it seems that this impartiality is not being respected. And civilians are paying a heavy price, as several thousands are being deprived of medical attention.

Since last December, 29 people have been killed while carrying out polio vaccination campaigns in Nigeria and Pakistan, two of the three countries where the disease remains endemic. As in all many other cases of violence against health facilities and workers, the tragedy of the victims' deaths and the pain of their families are only the most direct consequences of these attacks. Thousands of children who would have been immunised have been left at risk of polio and paralysis. Health organisations have been forced to review their activities, and add security issues to the challenges of health care provision.

The overall scale of the problem is alarming. Most incidents that in one way or another deny the right of wounded and sick people to health care go unreported. Hidden from health workers, governments and international organisations, unknown but certainly large numbers of people continue to suffer illness or injury without recourse to medical care.

MSF and the ICRC are seeking to expose the scale and the consequences of the threat to health care. The objective is to bring about real change on the ground, so that people can access the medical care they need without fear, whoever and wherever they are.

The performance and behaviour of health workers themselves - staff involved in management, administration and transportation as well as diagnosis, prevention and treatment - is critical. Securing acceptance for their work from all communities and political and military groups is an essential prerequisite to being able to operate in sensitive and volatile contexts. This requires an unequivocal demonstration of respect for medical ethics and impartiality.

And there are cases, for example in places in Afghanistan in which our organisations work, where medical facilities have been kept safe, and healthcare has been assured, despite a context of brutal violence. If we have to make sure these cases do not remain remarkable exceptions to the rule, if we have to foster responsibility for the protection of healthcare among all actors, we need a concerted, global effort.

Symbols clearly indicate medical services, such as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, or the MSF insignia, must oblige respect and the protection of medical practice. When they are exploited, or ignored, no amounts of sandbags will offer protection to patients and health workers.

The real challenge is to find ways to prevent such acts in the first place. The primary responsibility to prevent the targeting, obstruction, or abuse of the delivery of medical assistance lies with states and all parties engaged in conflict. Health workers must be supported in carrying out their medical duties, and states must ensure that all possible measures are taken to protect medical action through national legislation, and that these measures are implemented.

The protection of the sick and the injured lies at the heart of the Geneva Conventions, yet violence - in all its forms - against health facilities and personnel represents one of the most serious yet neglected humanitarian issues of today. The medical act benefits everyone - combatant and non-combatant - and anyone in need should be able to access it, unconditionally.

This op-ed by Dr. Unni Karunakara, International President of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and ICRC President Peter Maurer was orginally published by Al Jazeera.

Mali: Sahel Humanitarian Dashboard (May 2013)

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Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
Country: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Gambia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal
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