Author: User1

Executive Summary

Almost 40 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya face an unprecedented food and nutrition emergency. This crisis is driven by five failed or below-average rainy seasons and a looming sixth in 2023. In Somalia and Ethiopia, the rain failure is exacerbated by protracted conflict. The region has also suffered from the negative impact of COVID-19 and the Russia-Ukraine war. Many of the countries in the region are net food importers, and the Ukraine crisis has led to an increase in the price of food. In a region where most rely on rain-fed agriculture and pastoralism, cyclic drought has eroded community resilience, leading to a grim humanitarian crisis.

Poor funding is hampering efforts by humanitarian groups to address the crisis. As a result, some groups have resorted to making painful choices of “taking the food from the mouths of hungry people to the mouths of starving people.” According to the World Food Program in Somalia, 7.1 million people face acute food insecurity, and 213,000 people are facing catastrophic hunger levels. In Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia, 7.46 million children under the age of five are estimated to face acute malnutrition, including 1.85 million facing severe malnutrition.

Regional governments and international donors know how to respond to the drought but have failed to apply lessons from the past. Indeed, the current crisis echoes the devastating 2011-2012 famine in Somalia when over a quarter million people died, half of whom were children under the age of five. By the time famine was declared, half of the people experiencing famine had died. Donors, humanitarian agencies, and the governments of Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia learned hard lessons from the famine and adopted a “No Regret” funding posture during the region’s ensuing 2017-18 drought. They did not wait for the formal declaration of famine to upscale their aid delivery to people in need and deferred to quick, on-the-ground expertise in their field offices rather than onerous decisions from headquarters at key moments. Ultimately, they saved many lives and livelihoods.

Today, these hard-learned lessons have failed to hold. For over a year, there has been a sustained early warning of a new drought and its consequences for the Horn of Africa. However, those warnings have yet to trigger a response that matches the scale of need. If urgent actions are not taken, history is set to repeat itself on an even larger scale. This does not have to be the case. Lives and livelihoods can still be saved.

Experts know what works: adequate empirical evidence shows that early action, relief, and social safety programs, especially Emergency Cash Transfers, save lives and livelihoods and offer dignity to those in need. National safety net programs can be used to prevent the acute impact of food insecurity and, in the medium term, a path to longer-term poverty reduction. Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya each have social safety programs designed precisely for situations like this. These systems have worked during past droughts. Donors, humanitarian agencies, and national governments should therefore view social safety programs as the connective tissue that links humanitarian aid and development.

In Somalia and Ethiopia, internal conflicts are the chief barrier to delivering humanitarian aid. In 2011, humanitarian groups feared falling afoul of the sweeping counter-terrorism regimes, and Al-Shabaab’s onerous and arbitrary requirement to program in the areas under their control inhibited humanitarian access in southern Somalia. Initially, most areas that experienced famine were predominantly areas under Al-Shabaab’s control, although it spread to the government-controlled areas later. Today, Al-Shabaab does not control as many areas as in 2011. However, between 700,000 and 900,000 people still live in regions controlled by the group, making humanitarian access difficult.

Ethiopia has historically suffered from chronic food insecurity, and the government has addressed some of its causes through the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP). The absence of large-scale conflict has also helped. But the outbreak of conflict in late 2020 between the Tigray authority on one side and the Federal Ethiopian government, the Eritrean military, and various militia on the other side has diverted resources towards the war and weakened community resilience. The federal government’s humanitarian blockade has also denied people in need of aid. Additionally, the killing of humanitarian workers and looting of humanitarian aid by parties to the conflict has exacerbated the already perilous situation.

The length and severity of droughts in the Horn of Africa are increasing. However, experts know how to address drought, and the 2017-2018 drought response offered a workable template. Early response, sufficient timely funding, and a combination of humanitarian aid and social safety nets save lives. Regional leaders must heed these lessons, starting with convening a regional summit to sound the alarm and take urgent action to address the ongoing crisis and halt the avoidable cycle of suffering.

Source: Refugees International

Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks at the Central Emergency Response Fund high-level event, in New York today:

Since the Central Emergency Response Fund was set up 16 years ago, it has proved to be one of the fastest and most effective ways to finance global humanitarian action. The Central Emergency Response Fund enables United Nations agencies and their partners to swiftly launch and scale up our responses to evolving crises and underfunded emergencies.

I saw this for myself many times, in my previous position during 10 years when I was High Commissioner for Refugees. Central Emergency Response Fund is a United Nations success story. The funds are flexible and give our partners in the field the freedom to provide the kind of assistance that is most needed.

And the Central Emergency Response Fund prioritizes those most likely to be marginalized and left behind, including people with disabilities, older people, women and girls. Last year, over half of the people reached by the Central Emergency Response Fund funds were women and girls, and close to 6 per cent were people with disabilities. Central Emergency Response Fund spending on protection reached a record of more than $84 million.

So far this year, the Central Emergency Response Fund has ensured that hundreds of thousands of women in Lebanon, Somalia and other countries received services related to gender-based violence, and sexual and reproductive health care. Millions of people with disabilities, from Bangladesh and the Central Africa Republic to Colombia and Ukraine, also received support from Central Emergency Response Fund funding. Every Central Emergency Response Fund allocation includes targeted assistance to children, who suffer more in the dramatic impacts of humanitarian crises.

Despite its record of success, the Central Emergency Response Fund continues to seek ways to improve and become even more effective. It is a centre of innovation in the humanitarian system. For example, the Central Emergency Response Fund has expanded its support for early and anticipatory action. By releasing funds before the full impact of an emergency, Central Emergency Response Fund helps to save lives — and to reduce costs.

Before floods hit Nepal, the Central Emergency Response Fund funding enabled agencies to provide early warning messages, cash grants and essential relief to vulnerable households. And when drought was forecast in parts of Niger, Central Emergency Response Fund helped farmers to protect their livelihoods by providing funds to buy drought-resistant seeds, livestock feed and vaccinations.

Humanitarian needs have risen to record levels in recent years, as outlined in the Global Humanitarian Overview. The need for principled, effective humanitarian funding has never been greater. In crises around the world, Central Emergency Response Fund gives people a lifeline of hope. In 2022, the Fund provided more than $700 million for life-saving assistance to people in 40 countries. These funds were allocated in record speed, responding to the most urgent requests in a matter of hours.

When the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine on 24 February, the Central Emergency Response Fund allocated $20 million that same day. Less than a month later, Central Emergency Response Fund allocated another $40 million to Ukraine to support a further expansion, reaching almost 1 million people. And when Hurricane Ian hit Cuba, the Central Emergency Response Fund announced funding within days to bring health supplies, food, shelter, sanitation supplies and education kits to people whose houses and farms were destroyed. The Fund also stepped up in response to the global food crisis, providing $200 million to fight hunger in 19 countries.

And at a time of tough tests for the humanitarian sector, the Central Emergency Response Fund’s focus on underfunded crises was more important than ever. The Fund allocated $250 million to humanitarian operations in 23 underfunded countries, including Burkina Faso and Mali.

In the past 16 years, 140 Member States, regional local authorities, observers, non-governmental organizations and private donors have donated generously to the Central Emergency Response Fund. But, during those 16 years, the number of people in need has risen tenfold.

This is why we need a $1 billion Central Emergency Response Fund, as the General Assembly has acknowledged. Yet, the resources received have reached nowhere near that level.

We all face difficult economic times. But, the most vulnerable people are hit hardest. Central Emergency Response Fund is the tried and tested way to help them. This year, let’s deliver on a $1 billion Central Emergency Response Fund that is even more effective and successful. And thank you.

Source: UN Secretary-General

BRUSSELS, Dec 9 (NNN-MERCOPRESS) — European lawmakers and EU member states inked a deal to ban the purchase of products such as cocoa, coffee, and soybeans that contribute to deforestation, increasing the pressure exerted on Brazilian exports. The list also encompasses palm oil, wood, beef, rubber, and derivate products like skins, chocolate, furniture, and paper.

In addition to Brazil, the EU deal should also affect countries like Indonesia, Argentina, Ghana, and Nigeria, as the importation of these products will be prohibited if linked to deforestation after December 2023, explained the European Parliament.

The legislation text specified that the ban aims to protect all kinds of forests. Importing companies will be deemed responsible for their supply chain and must be able to prove traceability through crop geo-location data.

“It’s the coffee we drink in the morning, the chocolate we eat, the charcoal we use in our barbecues, the paper in our books. It’s radical, and that’s what we’re going to do,” celebrated Pascal Canfin, who chairs the European Parliament’s environment committee.

According to the NGO WWF, EU is responsible for 16% of global deforestation through its imports and is the second biggest destroyer of tropical forests after China.

The text was put up for votes in November 2021 by the European Commission and accepted in general terms by the Member States. Still, MEPs voted in September to strengthen it with an expansion of the list of products, including rubber.

The European Parliament called for the regulation’s scope extended to other threatened ecosystems, such as the Savannah-like biome Cerrado (Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia), where some EU soy imports come from.

The Brazilian press agency O Globo published an article in September this year when the proposal was being discussed in the European bloc, in which the Brazilian Association of Soybean Producers (Aprosoja) classified the measure as “commercial protectionism disguised as environmental preservation.”

At that point, the EU Parliament approved the draft legislation, but it still needed to be endorsed by the 27 member states.

Source: Nam News Network

Despite the continued impact of COVID-19, malaria cases and deaths remained stable throughout last year, according to new data released on Thursday by the World Health Organization (WHO).

According to this year’s World Malaria Report, countries around the world largely held the line against further setbacks to malaria prevention, testing and treatment services in 2021.

“Following a marked increase in malaria cases and deaths in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, malaria-affected countries redoubled their efforts and were able to mitigate the worst impacts of COVID-related disruptions to malaria services”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Deaths by numbers
Last year saw an estimated 619,000 malaria deaths globally compared to 625,000 in the first year of the pandemic, and 568,000 in 2019, before the virus struck.

Although cases continued to rise between 2020 and 2021, the rate was slower than that from 2019 to 2020.

The global tally of malaria cases reached 247 million in 2021, compared to 245 million in 2020 and 232 million in 2019. 

“We face many challenges, but there are many reasons for hope”, Tedros said.

“By strengthening the response, understanding and mitigating the

In 2021, nearly 45 million children in 15 African countries received seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) treatment, with Uganda and Mozambique delivering the intervention for the first time.
Source: World Malaria Report 2022

risks, building resilience and accelerating research, there is every reason to dream of a malaria-free future”.

Lifesaving bednets
In 2020, more insecticide treated bednets (ITNs) – the primary defense in most malaria-endemic countries – were distributed than in any year on record.

And distributions in 2021 were strong overall, similar to pre-pandemic levels.

However, Benin, Eritrea, Indonesia, Nigeria, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Uganda, and Vanuatu distributed less than 60 per cent of their ITNs and Botswana, Central African Republic, Chad, Haiti, India, Pakistan and Sierra Leone did not dispense any.

Tracking other interventions
In 2021, seasonal malaria chemoprevention – a highly effective, community-based intervention – reached nearly 45 million children in 15 African countries, which was a substantial increase from 33.4 million in 2020 and 22.1 million in 2019.

And despite supply chain and logistical challenges during COVID, a record number of rapid diagnostic malaria tests were distributed to health facilities in 2020.

An estimated 242 million artemisinin-based combination therapies – the most effective treatment for P. falciparum malaria – were delivered worldwide in 2021 compared to 239 million in 2019.
Convergence of threats
Despite successes, challenges continued and led the statistical field, particularly in Africa, which shouldered about 95 per cent of cases and 96 per cent of deaths worldwide in 2021.

Disruptions during the pandemic and converging humanitarian crises, health system challenges, restricted funding, rising biological threats and a decline in the effectiveness of core disease-cutting tools, threatened the global response.

“Despite progress, the African region continues to be hardest hit by this deadly disease”, said WHO Regional Director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti, noting that news tools and the funding to deploy them are “urgently needed to help us defeat malaria”.

Malaria funding in 2021 stood at $3.5 billion, an increase from the two previous years but well below the estimated $7.3 billion required globally to stay on track.

Other obstacles
At the same time, a decline in the effectiveness of key malaria control tools, most crucially ITNs, is impeding further progress against malaria.

Among the threats are insecticide resistance, insufficient access, and loss of ITNs due to the stresses of daily use outpacing replacement.

Other rising risks involve parasitic mutations affecting rapid diagnostic tests; growing parasite resistance to malaria drugs; and an invasion of an insecticide-resistant mosquito.
New avenues of hope
For African countries to build a more resilient response, WHO recently launched a strategy curbing antimalarial drug resistance and an initiative stopping the spread of the Anopheles stephensi malaria vector.

Additionally, a new global framework to respond to malaria in urban areas, developed jointly by WHO and UN-Habitat, provides guidance for city leaders and malaria stakeholders.

Meanwhile, a robust research and development pipeline is set to bring a new generation of malaria control tools that could help accelerate progress towards global targets, including long-lasting bednets with new insecticide combinations; spatial repellents; and genetic engineering of mosquitoes.

Also in the pipeline are new diagnostic tests, next-generation medicines to combat drug resistance, and other malaria vaccines.

According to the report, malaria-endemic countries should continue use a primary healthcare approach to strengthen health systems and ensure quality services and interventions for everyone in need.

Source: United Nations