This is the News in Brief from the United Nations.
UN agencies urge Taliban to make good on promises to protect vulnerable
Afghan civilians continue to bear the brunt of the Taliban takeover in the country where humanitarian needs remain critical and widespread among existing and newly displaced populations, UN agencies said on Tuesday.
Some 18 million people in the country need aid assistance and one in three children is expected to be severely malnourished this year, said the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
Here’s the agency’s Chief of field operations & emergency, Mustapha Ben Messaoud, speaking in Kabul on Tuesday:
“In Kandahar, I have seen the direct impacts of this recent flare in fighting and that impact is severely malnourished children I have seen injured in such a way, that it’s difficult to describe, young children, as young as 10 months.”
Inside Kabul, Mr. Ben Messaoud said that the situation was “improving”, although mobile health teams from the World Health Organization (WHO) had been forced to halt operations in recent days, owing to insecurity. “There is great need there that we need to attend to,” the UNICEF official added.
Côte d’Ivoire begins Ebola vaccinations of high-risk populations
Vaccinations to prevent the spread of Ebola virus have begun in Côte d’Ivoire following the discovery of an outbreak there three days ago.
Confirming the move, the UN health agency said that high-risk populations - including health workers and first responders - had received shots on Monday in the west African nation.
Vaccines were made available from neighbouring Guinea, where an outbreak of the highly infectious haemorrhagic disease was declared over on 19 June.
In a statement the World Health Organization (WHO) said that the Côte d’Ivoire outbreak was declared after the authorities confirmed that Ebola virus had entered the country via a patient who had travelled to Abidjan by road from Guinea.
The patient is currently receiving treatment at a hospital in Abidjan, said WHO, which added that effective early treatment and supportive care can significantly improve chances of surviving Ebola.
UN migration agency urges support for aid response in Mozambique
A “rapid expansion of humanitarian assistance” is needed in crisis-hit northern Mozambique, the head of IOM, the UN migration agency said on Tuesday.
Speaking from Metuge district - which hosts over 125,000 people displaced by insecurity in Cabo Delgado province - Antonio Vitorino explained that although IOM reaches tens of thousands of families every month, “significant additional funding is needed”.
This will cover life-saving humanitarian needs and help to implement durable solutions, Mr. Vitorino said.
In the last week of July, more than 9,200 displaced people were on the move, according to the UN agency.
In the first half of this year, IOM Mozambique provided assistance to more than 600,000 in Cabo Delgado.
However, it warned that operations remain underfunded, with $58 million dollars needed to support work in Mozambique, including $21.7 million to respond to immediate lifesaving humanitarian needs in the north.
Katy Dartford, UN News.
