UNICEF seeks $70m to provide humanitarian assistance to 900,000 children in Venezuela

UNICEF is appealing for more than US$70 million to provide life-saving humanitarian assistance to 900,000 children across Venezuela through the end of the year. New funding in the coming weeks is essential for UNICEF and its partners to meet the critical humanitarian needs of children and families inside the country.

“Some 3.2 million children in Venezuela need humanitarian aid as conditions across the country continue to deteriorate,” said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. 

“We are ramping up our work to help children and families who are struggling against food shortages and limited access to essential services like healthcare, safe water and education.”

At least 4.3 million people across Venezuela do not have access to safe drinking water; vaccine-preventable diseases including measles and diphtheria have re-emerged, while yellow fever and malaria are on the rise. An estimated 1.3 million children and adolescents need protection services, while over 1 million children are out of school.

In line with 2019 Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) for Venezuela launched by the United Nations and its partners, UNICEF’s priorities for the remainder of the year include: Providing 800,000 people with access to safe drinking water; Continuing to rehabilitate the vaccine cold chain; Vaccinating more than 1,200,000 children under 5 years against measles and ensuring treatment for 7,000 children under 5 years suffering from severe or moderate malnutrition.

Others include distributing education materials to 680,000 children aged 4-18 years; reaching 216,000 children with psychosocial and protection support; and providing over 170,000 pregnant women and newborn babies with health assistance.

These efforts build on UNICEF’s existing programmatic reach which has increased steadily over the past year to meet the growing needs of the most vulnerable children. Since 2018, UNICEF has shipped nearly 200 tons of basic health, nutrition, education, water, and sanitation relief supplies to Venezuela.

Ebola spreads in DR Congo as insecurity persists

CONGOLESE authorities have confirmed a new case of Ebola in the remote, militia-controlled province of Walikale, hundreds of kilometres from previous cases near the border with Uganda and Rwanda. 

Pinga, where the case was reported, is 150 km north-west of Goma, a town affected by the Ebola epidemic and further from the epidemic epicentre in Butembo and Beni. 

The health ministry confirmed the third case in South Kivu region, more than 700 km south of the first case.

Persistent insecurity and unrest are hampering the response in Beni. 

On 19 August 2019, a protest took place in Beni, Butembo and Oicha in response to recent attacks by armed groups on civilians causing temporary suspension of Ebola response activities. 

Operations resumed on 20 August 2019, with extra caution. The suspension of Ebola response activities often results in an increase in case numbers and in cases spreading to new areas in the following weeks.

In the past week, 57 new confirmed Ebola virus disease cases with an additional 46 deaths were reported from 18 health zones in three affected provinces. 

In the 21 days from 29 July through 18 August 2019, 65 health areas in 18 health zones reported new cases, representing 10 percent of the 665 health areas in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri provinces. During this period, a total of 215 confirmed cases were reported, with the majority coming from the health zones of Beni.

Cases  detected in two new health zones this past week include Mwenga Health Zone in South Kivu and Pinga Health Zone in North Kivu. In Mwenga, three confirmed cases have been reported thus far after two individuals (mother and child) had contact with a confirmed case in Beni before travelling south. 

The third confirmed case was a co-patient in a community health facility where the first cases initially sought care. In Pinga, one confirmed case has been reported and investigations are ongoing to identify epidemiological links between this individual and outbreak-affected areas. Rapid response teams were quickly deployed to scale up surveillance and response operations in both areas.