This report covers the period 01/January/2014 to 31/December/2014
Overview Chad is a landlocked country located in Central Africa and is facing since several years many humanitarian, social, health, and economic challenges. These challenges are due in particular to the effects of climate change, natural disasters and ethnical conflicts. Political instability in neighbouring countries of Chad has led to an influx of returnees and refugees fleeing the fighting in their respective countries. Health epidemics such as Cholera, meningitis and polio are recurrent and annual flooding experienced in the country has resulted in human and material losses. Over 1,000,000 in the north east of the country are food insecure and hundreds of thousands of under age children are severely malnourished.
The Red Cross of Chad is as an auxiliary to the government in the humanitarian field and has nationwide presence which makes it the sole national organization able to respond promptly and provide humanitarian aid throughout the country. In 2014, the Red Cross of Chad (RCC) with the support of Movement and nonMovement partners responded to population movement as well as the management of Sudanese refugee camps through the provision of basic needs as well as initiated a community resilience project.
Chad is a large but sparsely populated land-locked country, with a population of 12,448,000 (according to the last census carried out in 2009), bordered by Sudan, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroun and the Central African Republic (CAR). Roughly 60 percent of the national territory is desert, 25 percent falls in the semi-arid Sahel belt, while the remaining 15 percent approaches sub-tropical conditions but is subject to flooding.
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) 2013 Human Development Index places Chad 184 out of the 187 countries. The Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is USD 1,258 per person. Life expectancy at birth is 49.9 years while the 2013 maternal mortality rate per 1,000 births is 150 deaths.
Chad relies on oil revenues (20 percent GDP), foreign assistance and foreign capital for most public and private sector investment projects. Oil exports started in 2004 and the peak production capacity of known oil fields has already been reached. Cotton and cattle provide the bulk of Chad’s non-oil export earnings.
Officially, at least 80 percent of Chad’s population relies on subsistence farming and raising livestock for its livelihood. Although difficult to quantify, remittances are also important source of income. Inflows of remittances to Chad’s impoverished Sahel regions from Libya have dried up since the conflict there in 2011, and this continues to affect an already fragile livelihood base. Eight of nine regions of Chad’s Sahel belt present Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) and Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) rates above emergency thresholds. This not only points out to a difficult food security situation but also to the complex nature of malnutrition in Chad, where land access and access to basic health care, clean water, hygiene and appropriate infant feeding practices are a major challenge.
The country’s health and nutrition policy is based on the National Health Programme (NHP) which aims to make the health system more efficient, reinforce preventive measures and better meet the needs of the most vulnerable groups. In addition, the health ministry has adopted a road map to reducing maternal and infant mortality by 2015. These government initiatives are faced with challenges of staff shortages and currently stand at 1 physician for 29 420 patients, lack of modern equipment and drug shortages. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recent reports indicate that overall rate of acute malnutrition in Chad ranges between 15.2 to 24.9 percent against the 15 percent WHO threshold for critical malnutrition crises. The country`s education policy under the SNRP-II (Stratégie Nationale de Réduction de la Pauvreté II) is focused on raising the educational level of the entire population. The target for gross primary school enrolment has been substantially exceeded with net primary enrolment rates at 67 percent for girls and 77 percent for boys. Secondary school enrolment has also increased over the years and is estimated at about 13 percent annually.
The strengthening of relations between Chad and Sudan in early 2010 has led to a remarkable improvement in security in the eastern part of the country. The deployment of a joint Chadian-Sudanese border monitoring force has largely prevented cross-border incursions by rebel groups and armed banditry activities from either side. However, the majority of the 264,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad are reluctant to return home due to the continuing instability in Darfur. The political situation in Central African Republic (CAR) is volatile and some 64,000 CAR refugees are in the southern part of the country with no prospect of returning home in the near future. The continued ethnical tensions in Darfur, have led again to an influx of refugees and returnees.
Over the last 5 years, the Red Cross of Chad with the support of Movement, non-Movement partners and the Chad government has grown into a well-recognized national organization with the ability to reach and offer assistance to vulnerable communities throughout the country. With a presence of a strong network of volunteers in all the 23 regions, the National Society has gained confidence of the government.
