Afghanistan UNICEF/WFP, Ethiopia, Syria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (4 October 2021)

The United Nations of Earth reporting on this issue: "Afghanistan UNICEF/WFP, Ethiopia, Syria & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (4 October 2021)"
The topics: Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Afghanistan UNICEF\WFP - Guest at the Noon Briefing - Ethiopia - Syria - Yemen - Security Council - COVID-19/Pakistan - COVAX - Water - Coral Reefs - World Teachers’ Day - W.H.O./Press Conference AFGHANISTAN UNICEF\WFP At the end of a two-day visit to Herat, the heads of UNICEF and the World Food Programme in Afghanistan, Hervé Ludovic De Lys and Mary-Ellen McGroarty, sounded the alarm on the dire state of malnutrition and food insecurity sweeping across Afghanistan. With the winter fast approaching, they said it is now a race against time to assist Afghan families, who also lack access to safe water, health and nutrition services. Fourteen million people in Afghanistan are facing acute food insecurity, and an estimated 3.2 million children under the age of five are expected to suffer from malnutrition by the end of this year. The two UN agencies are adding 100 more mobile health and nutrition teams in the country. There are already about 168 mobile teams providing a lifeline for children and mothers in hard-to-reach areas of Afghanistan. Since the beginning of 2021, WFP has provided food and nutrition assistance to 8.7 million people. Close to four million people were reached in September alone. Additionally, so far this year, UNICEF has provided treatment for severe malnutrition to more than 210,000 children. Our colleagues from WHO also said that after a pause in activities, the WHO-supported polio programme has resumed screening and vaccination of travellers moving between Afghanistan and Pakistan through the Torkham border crossing. WHO has also recently dispatched 64 medical kits to health facilities in the western region to cover the health needs of 64,000 people for the next three months. Since August, WHO has also airlifted about 185 metric tons of essential medical supplies through nine flights, including a shipment on Sunday. And as a reminder that the Afghanistan Flash Appeal, which requires US$606 million to support about 11 million people with humanitarian aid through the end of 2021, has received $212 million. That’s 35 per cent funded. So, those numbers are going up, but we would appreciate more cash. GUEST AT THE NOON BRIEFING Mary-Ellen McGroarty, WFP Country Director in Afghanistan, will be the guest at the noon briefing on Wednesday 6 October. She will join the briefing virtually from Kabul. ETHIOPIA In Ethiopia, the World Food Programme has completed its first round of food distributions to people impacted by the spread of conflict from Tigray into the Afar and Amhara regions. Since August, WFP has delivered food to nearly 300,000 people in the two regions. However, WFP said that aid distributions in Tigray are lagging behind due to impediments to the movement of supplies. The second round of food distributions has been continuing in Tigray since late May and more than 2.4 million people have been reached with food assistance in the north-west and parts of southern Tigray. WFP says anecdotal reports from Tigray, Afar and Amhara provinces suggest that food insecurity is rising as families flee from their homes and have their livelihoods destroyed. The Rome-based agency stressed that it is absolutely vital that it has the full cooperation and support of all parties to the conflict so that it can reach all affected populations with urgently needed food assistance before we have a humanitarian catastrophe on our hands across all of northern Ethiopia. Full Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=05%20October%202021


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