Ukraine, Afghanistan, South Sudan & other topics - Daily Press Briefing (22 December 2022)

Noon briefing by Stéphane Dujarric, Spokesperson for the Secretary-General. Highlights: - Ukraine - Afghanistan - South Sudan - Haiti - UNDOF - South Africa - Latin America and the Caribbean - Briefings UKRAINE Starting off with a note from Ukraine from our humanitarian colleagues on the ground who tell us that parts of the Kyiv only have power supplies for only 3-5 hours per day. This is impacting water and heating systems, as well as disrupting basic services. To meet the growing needs for heat and power amid the energy crisis, our partners are delivering generators to hospitals, schools, heating points and collective centres. Some 770 generators have been delivered or are being installed. This includes, as of early December, more than 330 generators that our partners had provided to health facilities across Ukraine, mainly in eastern Kharkivska, northern Kyivska and Chernihivska oblasts. Additional generators have either been ordered or are on their way to delivery. AFGHANISTAN Turning to Afghanistan, the World Health Organization today said Afghanistan has vaccinated 5.36 million Afghan children aged 9–59 months against measles. This is part of a nationwide vaccination campaign supported by WHO and the UN Children’s Fund, that was held from 26 November to 12 December. 6.1 million children aged 0-59 months have also received oral polio vaccines and they have hit every province in Afghanistan. WHO notes that in 2022, many measles outbreaks were reported in the country. As of November of this year, Afghanistan has confirmed 5,484 measles cases with approximately 300 deaths attributed to measles infection. I also want to highlight some of the work other UN agencies have been doing to support women and girls in Afghanistan. Our colleagues at the World Food Programme tell us that this year, they have supported nearly 12 million women and girls through activities to prevent and treat malnutrition. Over 1.7 million were pregnant or lactating women. WFP also offered school feeding for 400,000 girls. Under the Spotlight Initiative, backed by the European Union and the UN, several entities, including UN Women, UNICEF, the UN Development Programme and the [UN Population Fund], provided essential services to 30,000 women in safe spaces designed for women and girls. The initiatives also enabled an emergency hotline that helped almost 117,000 women, girls, and youth, and nearly 27,000 women received reproductive health services in three priority provinces. For its part, UNESCO, the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, provided basic general literacy programmes to 25,000 youth and adults, half of them girls and women. Also in 2022, UNICEF reached 300,000 children - half of them girls - through 20,000 community-based classes. And 90,000 women and girls have accessed nearly 100 UNICEF-supported safe spaces for girls and women across 16 provinces where they receive psychosocial support and referrals to other basic services. SOUTH SUDAN Turning to South Sudan, today Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, allocated $14 million from the Central Emergency Response Fund, also known as CERF, to support people impacted by the increased violence and severe flooding. These funds will support direct humanitarian assistance to more than 260,000 people, and our partners will be able to scale up existing cash programmes, protection, health, education, water and sanitation, as well as hygiene activities. In 2023, 9.4 million of the most vulnerable people in South Sudan will need urgent assistance and protection - that is up from 8.9 million last year. Highlights: https://www.un.org/sg/en/content/noon-briefing-highlight?date%5Bvalue%5D%5Bdate%5D=22%20December%202022


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