1. Sahel Food and Nutrition Crisis
UNICEF and partners projected that 208,000 children will be treated for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and approximately 794,225 for Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) by the end of 2012.
2. Flooding disaster in Nigeria
According to NEMA and Nigeria Metrological Agency, it was reported that until the end of the year 2012, water receded throughout the country. However the situation in affected communities remains critical due to loss of livelihood, poor access to water, hygiene and sanitation and health services.
3. Cholera
A total of 597 suspected cholera cases with no laboratory confirmation and 18 deaths (CFR 3.02%) were reported between weeks 1 - 52 2012. The extreme rise in numbers of reported Cholera in December 2012 (134 new cases, including 14 deaths) resulted from an outbreak in Osun state reported on 29th of November 2012. On the whole, 29 LGAs (in 11 States) have reported at least 1 case of suspected cholera since the beginning of 2012. As depicted below, despite unforeseen flooding in Nigeria in 2012 and the cholera outbreak in Osun State, the annual reported suspected cases of cholera have drastically dropped between 2011 and 2012.
The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) established Early Warning Alert and Response Network on Floods (EWARN) until the end of year, covering 298,592 flood affected population.
Mubi LGA, Adamawa State reported on 14th Dec an outbreak of viral infection affecting 235 people. The outbreak reported initially as Cholera, was a Hepatitis A viral infection, not related to the floods. FMoH, WHO and UNICEF are working closely to monitor the situation.
4. Inter-Agency Collaboration and Partnerships
The Inter-agency Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) measuring the damage and impact of the floods on WASH sector is planned to be completed in mid-January. Post Disaster Needs Assessment for Education Sector has been completed below are the findings:
In many states, schools were closed for two to three months. According to the data submitted by the 10 states concerned the floods affected 4199 schools.
A total of 644 primary and 200 secondary schools are totally destroyed, while 2367 primary and 721 secondary schools are partially damaged. Most of the damaged and destroyed schools also lost most of their furniture, equipment, teaching and learning materials being submerged under water for too long.
Few communities put in place catch-up classes for the children not to lose out on schooling either through longer hours per day or prolonged school year/less holidays. In others, academic activities should resume in January. Parents who wanted to ensure continuous schooling for their children enrolled them in private schools non-affected by the flood however the vast majority of the local communities could not afford financially to do so.
Floods had impacted on the quality of education as well. The new learning environment in rented buildings or tents is not conducive to learning, as conditions often are cramped. Many of the schools that have reopened lost all their furniture and materials, which makes it difficult for both teachers and learners to resume their normal teaching routines. The quality of education is also affected by the fact that the floods and the consequent displacement have been a distressing experience for many teachers and learners. Also the quality of results of the exams will most probably be affected since pupils missed several months of teaching lessons.
On other activities, UNICEF participated in the preparation of joint UN proposal to the CERF application to flood response. The process was led by UN OCHA. CERF Flood response proposal included the following sectors: Health, WASH, Non Food Items and Food Security and Agriculture.