DONOR HELP CRUCIAL AS HEALTH SITUATION CRUMBLES IN SOUTH AND CENTRAL SOMALIA – UN

Donor assistance is urgently needed as the health situation in southern and central Somalia, including its violence-wracked capital, Mogadishu, continues to deteriorate, the United Nations humanitarian arm said today.

Violence in the impoverished Horn of Africa nation has impeded access to essential and life-saving health services, as well as to clean water and sanitation, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

A fresh wave of fighting, which broke out in Mogadishu in May, has driven 200,000 people from their homes, in addition to the more than 400,000 already displaced near the capital and along the Afgooye corridor, west of Mogadishu.

Poor coverage of health care is leading to more frequent communicable disease outbreaks, rising rates of severe acute malnutrition, and falling immunization rates, among other effects.

"With the country already facing one of the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the world, the humanitarian health community is finding itself constrained by the health funding deficit, leaving a number of critical life-saving health projects uninitiated and ongoing ones under threat of cessation," OCHA said in a donor alert.

Earlier this week, relief organizations in Somalia issued an $11 million appeal to meet the emergency water and sanitation needs of those who have fled Mogadishu in recent weeks.

Aid agencies are currently only able to supply two to eight litres of water per person per day in that area, while between 7.5 and 15 litres – less than one flush of an average toilet – is considered the minimum needed for survival, according to OCHA.

There is also currently one latrine for every 212 displaced people in the Afgooye corridor, and a major concern is that effect the lack of water is having on efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in overcrowded situations.
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GREATER DONOR HELP NEEDED TO ASSIST DISPLACED PAKISTANIS – UN ENVOY

A top United Nations humanitarian envoy wrapped up a two-day visit to north-west Pakistan today, calling on donors to step up their assistance to help the millions of people who have been uprooted from their homes by fighting between Government forces and militants.

The situation in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) is "unprecedented, both in terms of the speed and scale of displacement," said Abdul Aziz Arrukban, the Secretary-General's Special Humanitarian Envoy.

Some two million people have been displaced by clashes in the region since last August, according to the UN.

During his fact-finding mission, Mr. Arrukban visited Mardan district, where most of the people who fled Swat and Buner are taking refuge. While there, he stopped at a camp, which is a girls' high school currently sheltering internally displaced persons (IDPs), as well as a distribution centre for relief items.

Most of the displaced are living with host communities, and he pointed out that the healthcare, sanitation and water systems in these areas "are under enormous strain."

Dozens of hubs distributing food, mobile health teams and fixed health centres have been established, as agencies have been endeavouring to improve conditions within camps.

"The humanitarian community is making a valiant effort to reach those in need, but they will not be able to sustain their activities unless they receive greater support from donors," Mr. Arrukban said, calling in particular on the member States of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to increase their assistance to Pakistan.

To date, nearly 40 per cent of the $532 million Humanitarian Response Plan for Pakistan has been funded.
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