HEADLINES
Cholera has broken out in northern Mali’s Gao region, with 21 cases and 2 deaths reported. UNICEF, in collaboration with the World Health Organization and Cluster partners, is providing technical and material assistance through the Cholera Working Group. UNICEF has sent seven 20 ton trucks of WASH supplies to partners in Ansongo, at the epicentre of the outbreak.
As technical staff from Ministry of Education continue to return to the North, UNICEF is providing support by ramping up supplies of teaching and learning materials for 50,000 children and 1,700 teachers in Timbuktu and Gao.
UNICEF’s health efforts are also scaling up in the North, providing health clinics with basic medicines for 41,000 people, as well as medicines to treat 41,000 cases of malaria and 1,500 cases of cholera.
A SMART nutrition survey, funded by UNICEF and WFP and carried out by the government and local NGOs, is under way in Gao. A SMART survey was carried out in southern Mali in June 2012, the results of which have helped determine targets and shape nutrition response efforts. When access improves, a SMART survey will be carried out in Timbuktu.
UNICEF, in cooperation with Malian civil society and the European Union and OCHA, UNFPA, OHCHR and UNHCR, has trained 477 Malian military personnel to raise awareness on international humanitarian law and protection of children’s rights during conflict.
As the situation in Mali evolves and regional technical and administrative authorities return to the North, UNICEF and partners emphasize the need to rehabilitate social services and ensure access to basic healthcare, WASH, education services, among others.
UNICEF Mali requires US $81.9 million for response activities. So far, only 28 per cent of the required funding has been received. The Consolidated Appeal Process for Mali is currently under revision and is expected to be complete by mid-June.