Attachments
Highlights
• In line with the New Way of Working agenda promoted by the UN Secretary General, UNICEF-led sectors have contributed to a new strategy of the 2018 Sudan Humanitarian Fund (SHF) allocation which promotes greater efficiency for integrated interventions among partners and focuses on specific populations in need including IDPS, refugees and communities at high risk to disease outbreaks such as AWD.
• UNICEF, as part of the National Technical Committee on the Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict, conducted a mission to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) headquarters located in Nyala, South Darfur State to help strengthen appropriate recruitment procedures.
• In January, UNICEF supported delivery of primary health care (PHC) services to the vulnerable children in Jebel Marra localities in Central Darfur. Some 14 Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) kits were provided for 140,000 children to meet the health need. Moreover, 24 community health workers were trained to provide quality integrated community case management (ICCM). Accordingly, 8,437 children benefited from outpatient services including immunization, treatment of common childhood illnesses and referral for the malnourished children to stabilization centers. Also, 114 children under one year were supported to receive measles vaccination.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
2,300,000 children in need
4,800,000 people # of people who need Humanitarian Assistance (Source: Sudan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2017)
1,100,000 children internally displaced
2,300,000 people # of internally displaced people (Source: Sudan Humanitarian Needs Overview 2017)
500,572 South Sudanese refugee children
770,110 people # of South Sudanese refugees in Sudan in total
UNICEF Appeal 2018 US$ 96.54 million
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
In some areas of East Jebel Marra locality, South Darfur, internal fighting between two armed groups resulted in forced displacement of more than 600 people, mainly women and children since mid-December 2017. UNICEF, the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) and other humanitarian agencies are closely monitoring the ongoing conflict that impacts the relief activities in the locality. Some of the villages in the locality including Leiba town have not been reached by humanitarian support since 2011 because of the insecurity, while, in December 2017, a total of 47 children were identified as severe acute malnutrition in Leiba town and all of them were admitted to appropriate treatment as the first group receiving life-saving intervention first time since seven years. UNICEF plans to accelerate the integrated response with partners and the state government in newly accessible areas by addressing the challenges that constrain effective service delivery, such as lack of qualified staff, transportation of supplies to end users and security of the population living in the locality.
The number of reported Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD) cases remains low across Sudan, with 98 suspected cases registered between 17 December 2017 and 13 January 2018 mainly in Red Sea State6 . Overall, more than 36,000 cases have been observed across the 18 states of Sudan since August 2016. UNICEF and partners are working on preventing AWD mainly through water, sanitation and hygiene promotion efforts as well as developing an integrated response plan with Ministry of Health and WHO focusing on oral cholera vaccine (OCV) campaigns, behavioural change engagement, increased access to safe water resources, improved access to primary health care services and nutritional programmes, as well as strengthening capacity development of partners and service providers at the identified localities by building on the best practices and lessons learned from the response in 2017.
In total, 770,110 South Sudanese refugees are currently living in Sudan, including approximately 500,000 children (65 per cent). Since 1st to 15th January 2018, 3,064 new refugees including around 2,000 children have arrived from South Sudan. The number of new arrivals is forecasted to increase during the dry season which is more conducive to population movements. 78 per cent of all the South Sudanese refugees stay at out-of-camp settlements. To ensure that the needs of unregistered refugees are identified, assessments are being conducted in non-camp locations. UNICEF is taking an approach to increase refugee’s access to the existing basic services and local infrastructures by promoting inclusivity and cohesion of the refugees and the host community. In North Darfur, UNICEF use the educational support as an entry point for integrating South Sudanese refugees to the communities by organising sessions for school communities. However, there are a challenge in securing enough resource to cover the needs.