Highlights
As of 8 July and further to WFP assessment, an estimated 13,487 people will need assistance in Diffa region (including 5,181 refugees and 3,520 returnees who have crossed the border into Niger from Nigeria and an additional 4,786 host families who are supporting refugees and returnees) . This follows the declaration of a state of emergency in three federal states in neighbouring Nigeria early May.
Every week an average of 8,000 new cases of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition are admitted into therapeutic centres in Niger. In 2012, at the same period, the weekly number of admissions was equivalent to the one registered this year.
As of end June, 186,288 children under five have been admitted into therapeutic centres for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) while another 251,375 have been receiving treatment for moderate acute malnutrition (MAM). Nutritional status is still under control but fragile given the increasing food prices observed due to, amongst others, political insecurity in neighbouring Mali and Nigeria and the beginning of the lean season.
As of 9 July, a cumulative number of 395 cholera cases including 10 deaths (with a case fatality rate of 2.53 percent) have been reported since the beginning of the epidemics, on 10 May. With the support of its donors (AECID, ECHO and CERF Secretariat), UNICEF and its operational partners (CISP, Solidarités International, MSF, COOPI, Samaritan’s Purse and WHO) are responding to the epidemics.
Despite the fact that protection issues are on the rise in camps, funding is not forthcoming. US$585,000 needs to be mobilized for this underfunded sector. Gender-Based Violence, Children Associated with Armed Forces and other armed Groups, Separated and Unaccompanied Children, and psychosocial distress affecting children remain threats to their well-being that need to be addressed through prevention, tracing and/or treatment.
To ensure that vulnerable populations have equitable access to WASH facilities and are not deprived of their rights, UNICEF is advocating to immediately mobilizing approximately US$6,777,000 for this sector. As of 21 July 2013, only 6% of the CAP 2013 WASH funding requirements have been met.
Due to lack of funding and despite the increasing number of admissions in CRENI/CRENAS, UNICEF activities have been hampered and the distribution of hygiene kits in CRENI/CRENAS has been interrupted.