The alert from the World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), coincides with ongoing conflict and disasters on the continent, and severe underfunding for their work.
​
“While the situation continues to deteriorate for everyone, the disaster is magnified for refugees who have absolutely nothing to cushion their fall”, said WFP Executive Director, David Beasley. “In the best of times, refugees live in cramped conditions, struggle to meet their basic needs and often have no option but to rely on outside assistance for their survival. Now more than ever, they need our lifesaving support.”

More than 10 million refugees worldwide receive WFP assistance today; this includes the world’s largest refugee settlements, such as Bidibidi in Uganda, where food rations were cut by 30 per cent in April, owing to cash shortfalls.

Reduced rations

More than 3.2 million refugees across East Africa are already receiving reduced rations because of underfunding, including in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Significant funding shortfalls either threaten or have led to food cuts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia.

Without urgent action, levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia are expected to rise, the agencies warned, while also urging Governments to ensure that refugees and displaced populations are included in social safety nets and COVID-19 response plans - in line with the Global Compact on Refugees - to ensure they are able to access food and emergency cash assistance.

Ethiopia refugee children in crisis

In Ethiopia, more than six in 10 refugee children are already experiencing critical levels of anaemia, while UNHCR High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, warned that around one in two refugees are children “who may develop life-long difficulties if deprived of food at vital stages in their development”.
​
In Cameroon, WFP had to reduce its assistance to refugees from the Central African Republic by 50 per cent in May and June, because of funding gaps.

Cuts in rations are also expected for Nigerian refugees in the country, while across East Africa, congestion at borders linked to COVID-19 “have created congestion, delaying vital aid and trade flows”, the UN humanitarians said.

They added that in many parts of the continent, food prices are rising as a result, “posing a potentially devastating threat to millions of refugees, particularly those who were already living hand-to-mouth on daily wages”.

Food price shocks

In the Republic of Congo, the average price of a basic food basket has increased by 15 per cent, while in Rwanda, WFP reported that around refugee camps, found food prices were already on average 27 per cent higher in April compared to a year earlier, and 40 per cent higher than in 2018.

Because of these challenges, “many refugees are resorting to negative coping mechanisms, such as skipping meals or reducing meal portions”, the joint agency statement said.

Survival tactics

In South Sudan, more than 80 per cent of refugees are likely resorting to such measures and “in some cases, refugees are resorting to begging, transactional sex, or early or forced marriages to be able to afford food”.

Globally, WFP needs more than $1.2 billion to support refugees globally for the next six months, just over half is for operations in Africa. 
​
As part of the broader UN Global Humanitarian Response Plan for COVID-19, UNHCR requires $745 million for life-saving interventions, of which $227 million is for operations in Africa.

The fundraising initiative comes as the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned that an additional 6,000 children could die every day from preventable causes in the next six months.

Almost all of them live in developing countries, where the coronavirus pandemic has placed additional strain on already fragile health systems and basic services.

Call for unity, then and now

Issued in 1977 by Bob Marley and the Wailers, with a call for unity and to tackle the suffering of children, a new version of the much-loved reggae anthem will go on sale on Friday 17 July.

It features members of the Marley family, world-renowned musicians, artists from conflict zones and children from vulnerable communities.

“Over 40 years ago, my father wrote One Love about unity, peace and universal love during a time when there was much trouble in the world”, said Cedella Marley. “Even in a time when we aren’t able to ‘get together’, his message remains true today: we can get through this global crisis if we come together through one love and one heart.”

The project also has the support of jewellery brand Pandora, which has pledged to match every dollar raised to purchase One Love, up to the value of $1 million.

A bid for greater equality

All proceeds will support Reimagine, UNICEF’s global campaign to prevent the COVID-19 emergency from becoming a lasting crisis for children.

“One Love speaks directly to one key truth about this pandemic: our best hope to defeat COVID-19 and to reimagine a more equal, less discriminatory world for children is through global solidarity and co-operation”, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. “We are delighted that the Marley family along with Pandora have lent their generous support, creativity and love to help the most vulnerable children.”

In addition to the immediate health impact of COVID-19 on children and their families, UNICEF has warned that youngsters have been affected indirectly too, through school closures, food shortages, limited access to basic healthcare and disruptions to medical supply chains.

TikTok chiming in

The agency intends to use the money raised from One Love to respond to immediate needs, which include soap, facemasks, gloves, hygiene kits, protective equipment and lifesaving information for children and families.

Support for youngsters’ education, protection and healthcare systems will also be possible, UNICEF said in a statement, which noted that internet platform TikTok, will promote the song launch with a special event and public challenge for fans who want to get involved.
​
“We have a unique opportunity to chart a brighter future for the children and young people mostly likely to suffer its long-term consequences”, said Ms. Fore. “From ending violence, injustice and discrimination, to building fairer and more just societies, young people have made their message loud and clear. It is time for the rest of the world to hear it.”

Marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country between Government forces and their allies, against Houthi rebel militias, the new UNICEF report warns the number of malnourished children could reach 2.4 million by end of year, almost half of all under-fives. 

An additional 30,000 children could develop life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next six months.

Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19 warns that as Yemen’s devastated health system and infrastructure overall struggles to cope with the coronavirus pandemic, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably. 

Systemic failure

UNICEF reported that an additional 6,600 children under five could die from preventable causes by the end of the year. With a health system teetering closer to collapse, only half of health facilities are operational, with huge shortages in medicine, equipment and staff. 

More than eight million people, nearly half of them children, depend directly on the agency for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), amid ongoing conflict, cholera outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We cannot overstate the scale of this emergency as children, in what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, battle for survival as COVID-19 takes hold”, said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF Representative to Yemen.

“As the world’s attention focuses on the COVID-19 pandemic I fear the children of Yemen will be all but forgotten. Despite our own preoccupations right now, we all have a responsibility to act and help the children of Yemen. They have the same rights of any child, anywhere”, Ms. Nyanti added. 

In the report, the agency alerts for almost 10 million children without proper access to water and sanitation, as well as for 7.8 million children without access to education, following school closures. 

Widespread absence from class and a worsening economy could put children at greater risk of child labour, recruitment into armed groups and child marriage, the report highlights. 

‘Brink of starvation’

 “If we do not receive urgent funding, children will be pushed to the brink of starvation and many will die. The international community will be sending a message that the lives of children in a nation devastated by conflict, disease and economic collapse, simply do not matter”, Ms. Nyanti pointed. 

Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19 warns that unless US$54.5 million is received for health and nutrition services by the end of August, more than 23,000 children with severe acute malnutrition will be at increased risk of dying; there will be shortages on the children’s immunization, and 19 million people will lose access to healthcare, including one million pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their children. 

The report also highlights that crucial water and sanitation services for three million children and their communities will begin to shut down from the end of July, unless US$45 million is secured. 

“UNICEF is working around the clock in incredibly difficult situations to get aid to children in desperate need, but we only have a fraction of the funding required to do this”, conlcluded Ms. Nyanti. 

Support Yemen or watch the country ‘fall off the cliff’ On Wednesday, the UN humanitarian chief warned that Yemen will “fall off the cliff” without massive financial support. 

Speaking to a closed virtual Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Mark Lowcock said that coronavirus was spreading rapidly across Yemen, and about 25 percent of the country’s confirmed cases, have died. 

“At a minimum, we can expect many more people to starve to death and to succumb to COVID-19 and to die of cholera and to watch their children die because they are not immunized for killer diseases”, he said. 
​
The UN relief chief warned that the coronavirus pandemic is “adding one more layer of misery upon many others”. Caling for funding, he told members that the choice was between “supporting the humanitarian response in Yemen and help to create the space for a sustainable political situation, or watch Yemen fall off the cliff.” 

The warning from multiple UN agencies comes ahead of a major donor pledging conference next Tuesday for the war-shattered country.

To date, nine people have died from the new coronavirus in Syria.

Rural Damascus affected

Most of the relatively low number of confirmed infections have been identified in rural Damascus, in areas under Government control.

But there are serious concerns that Syrians – nine in 10 of whom live on $2 or less a day – are dangerously exposed to the disease should it reach them.

“We’ve only had 248 cases (of new coronavirus infection) in country thus far, but we can take no comfort in that”, said Dr Richard Brennan, Regional Emergency Director for the World Health Organization (WHO)'s Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.

“We have other countries in the region, the number of cases has got off to a slow start, and we’ve seen in more recent times a real acceleration, so we’ve seen this in Iraq, we’ve seen it in Turkey, we’ve seen it in Egypt and we can fully expect that we will have a similar development in Syria as well.”

The development coincides with an urgent World Food Programme (WFP) appeal for funding to sustain its massive nutrition programme.

200 per cent food price hike

“Syria today is facing an unprecedented hunger crisis as the prices of basic foods reach levels unseen even at the height of the nine-year conflict,” said spokesperson Elisabeth Byrs, noting a 200 per cent food price hike in under a year.

“We’ll continue our work, we’re on the ground…we’re helping 4.8 million people who need food assistance from WFP in Syria’s 14 governorates. We’re going to carry on, but to do that we need $200 million urgently.”

With more than half of Syria’s pre-war population - over 13 million people – now displaced across the country or refugees, UN humanitarian coordinating body OCHA, echoed the need for international support at next Tuesday’s funding summit in Brussels.

“A generation of children has known nothing but hardship, destruction and deprivation,” said Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. “Now over 11 million people still inside Syria need aid and protection. The economy across the region is imploding, in Syria it is imploding, not least due to the impact of COVID-19.”

To date, the $3.8 billion Humanitarian Response Plan for Syria is only 30 per cent funded, Mr. Laerke added.

Hospitals out of action

After more than nine years of war, more than half of Syria’s public hospitals and health centres are out of service, according to WHO.

From Damascus to Aleppo, facilities have been reduced to rubble, including a 400-bed national hospital in Homs and a 600-bed complex in Eastern Aleppo, which used to have a nursing school and specialist centres in ophthalmology, paediatrics and nephrology.

Amid such destruction in a country so reliant on international support, the UN is increasingly concerned that COVID-19 would be devastating for all those who live day-to-day, with no social welfare safety net and insufficient personal protective equipment (PPE).

This is despite efforts to boost public health measures to protect vulnerable populations, said WHO’s Dr Akjemal Magtymova, WHO Representative in Syria: “Even in healthcare settings, what I have witnessed crowds of patients in the facilities which are - there is - no use of masks, even among some of the health medical personnel, because of a lack of PPE.”

Insisting that there was still an “opportunity” to stop a widespread COVID-19 outbreak in Syria “that we know is coming”, WHO’s Dr Brennan said that scaling up tried and trusted prevention efforts was essential: “the disease surveillance, the testing, the isolation, the case management, the contact tracing and the community engagement and communications.”

WFP has been operating such flights to some 132 countries, as travel bans and closed borders in many parts of the world have caused logistics nightmares for the delivery of humanitarian aid and personnel.

Unless a “substantial injection of funds” is provided by donors by early July, WFP spokesperson, Elisabeth Byrs, said that it would be forced to ground most of its humanitarian air fleet by the end of next month:

“I think all the operations will be affected, because you need money to get to charter a plane for passenger and medical evacuation, or to transport cargo”, she told reporters in Geneva.

“I know that slowly and slowly, step by step, some commercial flights will resume and we use them as often as it’s possible”, but there will still be countries, especially in regions like the Middle East, “where it’s badly needed”, she added.

Global network

​WFP operates a network of so-called global aid hubs in China, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, near the locations where supplies are manufactured.

It also controls regional hubs in Ethiopia, Ghana, South Africa, Malaysia, Panama and Dubai.

The WFP aviation service has, over recent months, transported huge volumes of urgently-needed medical supplies – including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), masks and ventilators – as well as staff from scores of aid organisations. WFP also transports goods on behalf of other UN agencies and non-government organisations, by road and by sea. 

Response on a scale ‘never seen before’

“This is a response on a scale never seen before”, said Ms. Byrs, in reference to the emergency supply system, “and with the pandemic showing no signs of unabating it is crucial that the response doesn’t stop now when it is needed most”.

 “The common services budget of $965 million to maintain the air service until the end of the year is only 14 per cent funded. Only 178 million US$ has so far been confirmed or advanced,” Ms. Byrs said.  Some 787 million US$ are urgently required to sustain these essential air cargo and passenger movement operations until the end of the year. 

Severe consequences

WFP’s Byrs warned of severe consequences should the humanitarian flights cease. Without the service, she warned that “hospitals in developing countries would not receive desperately needed medical supplies…Health centres serving pregnant women and undernourished children, would not receive life-saving nutritional products for the prevention and treatment of malnutrition.”

 Since 1 May, the World Food Programme has completed 375 cargo and passenger emergency flights, delivering “more than 2,500 responders from more than 80 aid organisations flown to destinations where their assistance is urgently needed”. Byrs added that “I could also tell you that we have provided enough cargo to fill 120 jumbo jets, waiting to be transported in coming weeks”.
​
 As part of this system, WFP also has access to a global network of contracted air ambulances which have so far carried out nine medical evacuations of UN staff.

More than eight million people in the war-torn country, nearly half of them children, directly depend on the agency for water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), amid ongoing conflict, cholera outbreaks and the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, UNICEF reported that its $479 million appeal for Yemen is less than 40 per cent funded. Unless it receives $30 million by the end of the month, WASH operations for four million people will have to be shut down.
​
Cash-starved critical services“This means UNICEF will not be able to provide fuel to operate water pumping stations, or de-sludge sewage, or maintain crumbling water and sanitation infrastructure”, said Marixie Mercado, spokesperson for the agency.

“It means we will not be able to distribute basic family hygiene kits that include soap, which is so critical for preventing both cholera and COVID in a context where millions don’t have access to handwashing facilities.”

Keeping WASH services up and running is critical, particularly as Yemen battles ongoing cholera and diarrhoea epidemics.

More than 137,000 cases have been recorded since the beginning of the year; nearly a quarter of them among children under five.

UNICEF’s COVID-19 response is also underfunded.

The agency needs $53 million to continue activities that include training and equipping frontline workers on infection and control, sustaining essential maternal and child health services, and providing health facilities with testing kits, oxygen concentrators, and personal protection equipment (PPE).

Humanitarian pledges coming in

Five years of fighting between Yemeni government forces, backed by international allies, and rebels known as Ansar Allah, have left roughly two-thirds of the population, or more than 24 million people, reliant on aid relief.

International donors this month announced $1.35 billion in pledges for the country. So far, nearly half, or $637 million, has been paid, the UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, said on Friday.
COVID-19: ‘Alarmingly high’ fatality rate

Yemen recorded its first case of COVID-19 in April. By this week, there were more than 560 cases, including 130 deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

OCHA described the case fatality rate – nearly 25 per cent – as “alarmingly high”.


Reports continue to indicate that many more people are symptomatic and are dying with COVID-19-like symptoms.

Yemenis suffering mild and moderate symptoms are only seeking healthcare when they are critically ill, probably due to fear of stigma, safety concerns and inability to access testing.
Meanwhile, humanitarians continue to scale up COVID-19 response.
​
Priorities are centred around community engagement campaigns aimed at suppressing virus transmission, and on procuring and distributing medical supplies and equipment.

Some ten million people each month have been receiving humanitarian aid from the UN and other partners as a result of five years of conflict in the Arabian Peninsula country, and there are fears that the already depleted health system will not be able to cope if the deadly virus takes hold.

The first case of COVID-19 in Yemen was recorded in April and there have already been reports of hospitals turning patients away. 

Initial findings from intensive care units suggest that some 20 per cent of people being treated after becoming infected, are dying, compared to the global average of 7 per cent.

On Tuesday, an international pledging conference being held in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, aid agencies will be asking donors for US$2.41 billion to cover essential activities until the end of the year including programmes to address COVID-19.
​
Read more here about the challenges facing Yemen as it faces up to the global health pandemic.

“Four people out of every five, 24 million people in all, need lifesaving aid in what remains the world’s largest humanitarian crisis”, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres. “Two million Yemeni children are suffering from acute malnutrition, which could stunt their growth and affect them throughout their lives”. 

Moreover, since the start of the year, some 80,000 more people were forced from their homes, bringing the total displaced to almost four million; cholera continues to threaten lives with 110,000 people contracting it so far this year; and recent floods have raised the risk of malaria and dengue fever.  

Fighting intensified across Yemen in 2015 between a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally-recognized Government, based in the south, and the Houthi armed movement, known as Ansar Allah, with still controls the capital Sana’a, together with their allies. 

Cornavirus threat

On 10 April, Yemen reported the first confirmed case of COVID-19, posing a terrifying threat to people weakened by years of conflict, and with a health system on the brink of collapse
Since then, cases have risen to the hundreds, which, with extremely low testing rates, are likely to be undercounted. 

“There is every reason to believe that community transmission is already underway across the country”, said Mr. Guterres.

Race against time Citing reports that the mortality rate from COVID-19 in Aden are among the highest in the world, the UN chief maintained: “That is just one sign of what lies ahead, if we do not act now”. 

Against a backdrop of health facilities not functioning; shortages of testing devices, oxygen, ambulances and protective equipment; healthcare workers stricken with the virus; and sketchy electricity supplies in hospitals, the UN chief pointed out that even simple public health measures are challenging when 50 per cent of the population lacks clean water to wash their hands.  

“Tackling COVID-19 on top of the existing humanitarian emergency requires urgent action”, he stressed. “We must preserve the major humanitarian aid operation that is already underway – the world’s largest – while developing new public health programmes to fight the virus and strengthen healthcare systems” – all of which requires financing.

Up the anteAid agencies estimate the need for up to $2.41 billion to cover essential lifesaving aid until the end of the year, including programmes to counter COVID-19. 

“There is no time to lose”, said Mr. Guterres.

Highlighting that civilian casualties have risen each month throughout the year, and more than 500 people have been killed or injured since January, Mr. Guterres echoed his call for a ceasefire, maintaining that ending the war is “the only way” to address the country’s health, humanitarian and human development crises. 

“Yemenis desperately need peace”, concluded the Secretary-General.

‘Catastrophic’ situation

After five years of “economic collapse, destroyed infrastructure, hunger, disease and displacement”, COVID-19 is the latest blow to strike the war-torn country, said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator and conference co-host, Mark Lowcock.

“The situation in Yemen is catastrophic”, he asserted, explaining that the coronavirus is “spreading rapidly”, with data suggesting “a much higher rate of severe illness and death than in many other countries”. 

Updating that overcrowded, under-stocked health facilities are turning people away, he said: “This is what more than five years of war have done to Yemen. The health system is in a state of collapse”. 

And yet so far, the world has offered less help than it did last year. 

Funding assistance The UN and its partners are delivering humanitarian assistance to more than 10 million people across the country every month, which has “helped bring Yemen back from the brink of famine, curb the largest recorded cholera outbreak in history and support families fleeing violence”, said the relief chief

Aid agencies are also racing to contain COVID-19 as the UN is supporting rapid response teams in all districts, importing essential supplies to help millions protect themselves.  

“Delivering aid in Yemen is never easy, and we need much more from everyone if we are to continue this work”, said the UN relief chief.

He made it clear that “the biggest challenge is the money”. 

More than 30 of the 41 UN-supported programmes in Yemen, will close in a few weeks if additional funds are not secured. 

‘On the precipice’

Upholding that “pledges will not save lives unless they are paid”, Mr. Lowcock pointed out that so far, most have not been honoured.

He painted a picture of Yemen “on the precipice, right on the cliff edge, below which lies a tragedy of historic proportions”, and asked that everyone match their pledges of last year and to pay promptly and flexibly so that aid agencies can focus on where the needs are greatest. 

He cautioned against cutting funding to any one part of the country because of who is in control, saying that is “tantamount to the collective punishment of the innocent and the vulnerable, people who have no say on who is in charge in the places they live”. 

Sharing the gavel, was Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia. The country has pledged around $500m in support of the UN’s humanitarian response plan for Yemen, and he highlighted that the country has so far provided more than $16 billion in aid to its neighbour.
​
At the end of the conference, Me. Lowcock repoted the $1.35 billion dollars had been pledged.