Malanje - At least one hundred and three foreign nationals sought refuge in northern Malanje province and 138 others sought asylum, said the provincial director of the Migration and Foreigners Service (SME), Laureano Dias dos Santos.
The total of 241 citizens from different countries namely Mauritania, Sudan, Guinea Conakry, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Cotê d'Ivoire, Chad, Somalia and Liberia.
According to Laureano Dias dos Santos, these citizens are under control of SME in the municipalities of Malanje, Cacuso, Calandula, Quirima, Mucari and Luquembo.
He also said that through 2017, SME arrested 20 foreigners who presented fake identification papers.
Angola is celebrating, June 20 the World Refugee Day, being marked in a crisis situation period with 50,000 refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) due to fighting between government forces and opposition groups.
This year the event has as its motto: "Real People, Real Needs".
AMMAN, 20 June 2017 - “No one wants to flee their home,” says Ishmael Beah, author and UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War, following a recent visit to Jordan, where he met with children and young people uprooted by years of conflict in neighbouring Syria.
Beah knows that first hand. Nearly twenty years ago, he fled fighting in Freetown, Sierra Leone, as rebels closed in on the capital threatening the then 17-year-old with being dragged back into a brutal conflict. Just months earlier, he had with UNICEF’s help been demobilized as a child soldier.
What followed was a nerve wrecking journey to Conakry by bus and on foot, and eventually onwards to the United States. “I was one of the lucky ones because I had a passport and could get out,” said Beah.
“But it’s hard to leave home,” he said. “I never felt at peace anywhere really. I had a good life in other places but there was always something missing. When I went back home the first time I realized exactly what that was. It was because I wasn’t in my own country. Even the smell of the air does something to you because it’s home.”
Millions of children are refugees
As we mark this year’s World Refugee Day on 20 June, some 21 million men, women and children worldwide are refugees. They have been uprooted from their countries, homes, schools and lives, and often separated from family and friends. Of those, some 2 million are children from Syria now living as refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.
With the support of host countries, UNICEF through funding from the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, is providing hundreds of thousands of these children and young people with access to basic needs such as education, protection, a say in shaping their own futures and opportunities to make sure that they do not become a lost generation.
Both refugees and vulnerable host communities benefit from the assistance, which helps support social cohesion.
During his visit in April, Beah, who has written about his experiences from war in the internationally acclaimed book, “A Long Way Gone, Memoir of a Child Soldier,” met with children and young people in Za’atari refugee camp on the border with Syria.
The Los Angeles based father of three also attended a UNICEF and EU-supported regional youth workshop for refugees and vulnerable young people in host communities.
The workshop was part of the ongoing training for dozens of young people to become researchers and collect information from their peers about shared challenges and then find constructive solutions.
Life continues
“Because you’re a refugee, it does not mean your life stops,” said Beah, whose message to the international community is to listen to those who are going through the experience to best identify and support needs.
“Often people think that those who are suffering are not thinking deeply about their situation,” he said.
But that’s not at all the case, he said, a message he also heard from the children and young people he met in Jordan.
“They know that having an education is something no one can take away from them,” said Beah, highlighting the importance of the international community’s continued support for access to learning for girls and boys.
“They are not giving up so I don’t think anyone should give up on them. They need support so they can get an education.”
Reaching safety but facing hurdles
The visit to the region was deeply personal for Beah, who recognized some of the many challenges that the children shared – including losing loved ones, but also vital documents from birth to graduation certificates that creates obstacles to re-enter school and rebuilding their lives.
“Nobody leaves home if things are functioning,” said Beah, after hearing the powerful stories of Syrian girls who had seen war first hand but also of their love for Syria and a desire to return.
“They only left because they had no choice,” he said. “They just want the war to stop in their country so they can go back and pick up from where they left off.”
By Malene Jensen and Salim Oweis
The UK aid strategy outlines a commitment to increasing UK aid investment on global health risks, including infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance. Global health threats are of increasing concern to the international community, as well as representing a challenge to British interests. The recent Ebola crisis in West Africa served to highlight the considerable risks that infectious disease epidemics pose to development.
ICAI has decided to conduct a learning review of the UK aid response to global health threats, since the scaling up of expenditure and cross-government collaboration required to address this challenge is at an early stage.
The purpose of the review is to explore how well the UK aid programme is preparing for global health threats, in response to the priorities outlined in the UK aid strategy and the lessons learnt from Ebola. In this context our definition of global health threats includes infectious disease epidemics, emerging diseases with epidemic potential and drug-resistant microbes. The review will assess the relevance of the aid response and its potential effectiveness, including assessing whether the response is evidence-based and whether lessons are being captured to inform future programming.
A new study suggests that Red Cross volunteers potentially averted more than 10,000 cases of Ebola during the 2013-2016 West Africa outbreak. The study measures for the first time the amazing impact of safe and dignified burial (SDB) teams, and highlights the incredibly important role of community health workers during a health emergency.
According to the study, published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Red Cross SDB teams potentially averted as many as 10,452 Ebola cases. Using statistical modeling, the study estimated that this potentially decreased the scale of the outbreak by as much as 36.5 per cent.
During the Ebola outbreak, Red Cross teams in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea took on the dangerous task of burying people who had died of Ebola, a crucial action because of how infectious dead bodies were. The work of the Red Cross SDB teams was further complicated by deeply valued traditional burial practices of washing and touching the dead which were contributing to increased rates of infection.
“We earned the trust of communities”
“To respond effectively, we had to change our entire approach to dealing with people who had died and their families,” said Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). “We stopped talking about ‘dead body management’ and instead started talking about “safe and dignified burials’. We talked to communities and did our best to understand their beliefs and priorities. Ultimately, we earned their trust, and this was critical to success.”
In all, Red Cross teams managed over 47,000 safe burials, accounting for over 50 per cent of all SDBs conducted during the outbreak. The teams were made up entirely of local volunteers, who spoke the same languages as communities, and who understood cultural norms and community dynamics. In all, 1,500 trained volunteers were involved in this aspect of the Red Cross response. As a result of their efforts, many of them were stigmatized and threatened.
Alpha Sesay led one of the Sierra Leone Red Cross SDB teams during the outbreak. A Red Cross volunteer before the outbreak, Alpha says he signed up for the extremely risky task of providing SDBs, because there was no one else. Soon, he found himself isolated from his family.
“Ebola, that was the name they gave us,” he recalls. “‘Those Ebola boys are coming!’ ‘That boy is part of a burial team!’ They did stigmatize us. It was not really easy for us.”
Community-action saves lives
But, as the study makes it clear, without Alpha and his compatriots the outbreak could have been much, much worse.
It also speaks to a broader issue within global public health. Too often, the role of local community organizations and community health workers is undervalued. In the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak, a significant amount of attention has been paid to reevaluating and restructuring the global approach to epidemics. Comparatively little attention has been paid to the importance of communities and community-based actors.
“This study reveals the vital role of communities and community-based organizations in the Ebola response,” said Dr Julie Hall, Chief of Staff and Special Advisor on Health at the IFRC. “The success of the SDB programme can be largely attributed to the Red Cross teams who were there before, during and after the outbreak. It was they who provided the basis for a response to the crisis that was both acceptable to local communities, and sustainable.”
For this reason, IFRC has been consistently calling for greater investment in strengthening local and community-level health capacity, including by investing in National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
“The 2017 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo reminds us of how precarious global health is,” said Mr Sy. “International partners need to better harness and invest in local capacities, building on homegrown knowledge and skills, that will help communities respond, protect themselves and put an end to future health crises.
“The price tag on this investment is far less than the alternative: outbreaks that are deadlier and more expensive.
At the height of the Ebola epidemic, hundreds of students, taxi drivers and shopkeepers volunteered to bury their dead neighbours. A new study finds their actions stopped over 10,000 people from being infected with the disease.
The study, which was published in the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, used statistical modelling to measure the impact of Red Cross safe and dignified burial teams during the Ebola outbreak. It found that the practice of safe and dignified burials potentially averted as many as 10,450 Ebola cases, decreasing the scale of the outbreak by over a third (36.5 per cent).
Originating with a single case in Guinea, the West Africa Ebola epidemic was the largest in history. Over 28,600 people were infected and more than 11,300 died from the disease.
Across Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia, Red Cross teams undertook the dangerous and complex task of burying people who had died from the disease. Dead bodies are particularly infectious and given the traditional burial practices of the communities - where people typically wash and touch the bodies to show their respect - the disease spread most rapidly at funerals.
"To respond effectively, we had to change our entire approach to dealing with people who had died and their families," said Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).
"We talked to communities and did our best to understand their beliefs and priorities. Ultimately, we earned their trust, and this was critical to our success."
Over 47,000 safe burials were managed by Red Cross, accounting for over 50 per cent of all burials conducted during the outbreak. Teams were made up entirely of local volunteers: 1,500 in total, all of whom were trained by Red Cross.
The study reinforces the importance of local volunteers in responding to emergencies and epidemics.
"This study reveals the vital role of communities and community-based organisations in the Ebola response," said Dr Julie Hall, Chief of Staff and Special Advisor on Health at the IFRC.
"The success of the SDB programme can be largely attributed to the Red Cross teams who were there before, during and after the outbreak. It was they who provided the basis for a response to the crisis that was both acceptable to local communities, and sustainable."
Livelihoods are fundamentally about what people do to meet their needs over time, including how they cope with and recover from shocks. Understanding how people do this is a central part of the work of the Secure Livelihood Research Consortium (SLRC).
This report synthesizes findings on livelihoods from quantitative and qualitative research projects conducted by SLRC from 2011 to 2016 in eight countries affected by fragility and conflict to varying degrees: Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nepal, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, and Uganda.
The synthesis points to eight key findings:
The assumption in conflict-affected areas that conflict is the main driver of poor livelihood outcomes is not necessarily true, and neither is the assumption that livelihood recovery naturally follows the end of conflict.
The evidence for a post-conflict ‘peace dividend’ is weak at best, and in many cases negligible.
There are key constraints to post-conflict livelihood recovery, which suggest areas for investment, but also highlight the limits to livelihood support in post-conflict contexts.
The continuing role of conflict actors in post-conflict economic activities shape the livelihood options of people who have survived the conflict.
The livelihood options for women are constrained and strongly shaped by patriarchy, with more limited options for migration, livelihood diversification, and engagement in more lucrative post-conflict opportunities.
Movement is a constant form of livelihood adaptation in conflict and afterwards.
Despite the large, and growing, share of aid budgets that post-conflict livelihood support programming attracts, there is limited evidence as to the resulting impact.
Labor markets often prove to be highly exploitative economic spaces, both during and after conflict.
The SLRC is a six-year, eight-country research study, led by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) in London. SLRC investigates livelihoods, access to basic services, and social protection in fragile and conflict-affected situations. The research is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DfID), Irish Aid, and the European Community (EC). The Feinstein International Center leads SLRC research in South Sudan and Uganda in addition to its participation in the Sierra Leone research.
Summary
In November 2014, ALNAP launched a sub-group of the Urban Response Community of Practice (CoP) to gather learning from the urban aspects of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) response in West Africa. Informed by CoP discussions, interviews and review of literature and media articles, ALNAP has produced four brief learning reports. Three of these cover issues around population movement; working in a context of quarantine; and communication and engagement. This paper explores a variety of issues by looking at the case of one urban informal settlement, West Point, Monrovia, Liberia, and its experience of the EVD outbreak and response.
The EVD outbreak in West Africa was the first time EVD had infiltrated an urban area. The unprecedented scale of the outbreak combined with the dynamic urban contexts within the affected region challenged responders considerably.
The three most affected countries were Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. All three have seen unprecedented urban growth in recent years. All three have a legacy of conflict and unplanned development, and they all struggle with health care and other related infrastructure, including water, sanitation and electricity.
West Point, Monrovia, is an informal settlement in Liberia that, despite being an official township of the capital city, has experienced decades of unplanned growth and expansion, particularly since internally displaced persons from the Liberian civil war began to arrive. It has significant water, sanitation, hygiene, electricity, access, land tenure, erosion and protection issues, which have been persistently present and unresolved pretty much since the settlement was established. Despite these challenges, West Point has been described as fairly cohesive, and its proximity both to the coast and to economic activity in Monrovia means many residents do have an income. At the time of the EVD outbreak, West Point was home to approximately 70,000 residents.
EVD reached Monrovia in June 2014, having arrived in the country in March. Few cases were reported in April and May, which led officials to believe the outbreak had been contained. However, over the summer, it became clear that failed messaging combined with denial, mistrust and scepticism had driven the outbreak underground, with illness and death occurring without being reported. In August, after an official visiting West Point discovered several cases of EVD deaths, the government enacted a swift plan to transform a school in the settlement into an Ebola holding centre. Within a matter of days the holding centre was opened, the community rioted, the entire settlement was put under quarantine and it was released, following long-overdue consultations between government and community leaders.
From September 2014, the response to EVD in West Point was largely community-led. While there was support from and programming by both the government and international actors, it was West Point community volunteers who tackled the denial, got cases reported and ultimately ended the crisis in the settlement, which reported its last case of EVD in December 2014. Leaders from West Point were later asked to help other parts of Monrovia still tackling the disease.
Today, though Ebola-free, West Point remains an informal settlement with great water, sanitation and hygiene, environmental, social and political challenges. The handful of upgrades and improvements it received during the response has not tackled issues that have persisted since long prior to the outbreak. And mistrust between the community and the government is likely to continue, as the future of West Point and its residents has yet to be determined.
West Point’s experience of EVD sheds light on many of the issues discussed throughout this series, including the challenges posed when quarantine is enacted in a dense informal settlement; the importance of community mobilisation, particularly in an urban environment; the critical role of population movement in informing the makeup of the community and also in illustrating behaviour throughout the outbreak; and why it took so long to apply an urban response to this largely urban crisis.
Rapid urban development and a rising population have led to significant changes in Freetown over the last decades. Although the city’s status as the nation’s economic heartbeat has been bolstered, the growth and sprawl of informal settlements and the continuous lure of rural-urban migration have led to a range of risks, both episodic and ‘everyday’. These risks are more concentrated in the pockets of informal settlements and are becoming progressively embedded in the way of life of its residents, with adverse effects. In order to 'make visible' and capture the hidden vicious cycles of risk accumulation and risk traps, the city needs to be re-examined through a lens of urban risk. This policy brief reflects on the participatory approaches adopted to improve knowledge of small-scale and everyday urban risks. Through these approaches, urban risk traps were captured to assess mitigation efforts by a range of actors, revealing the embedded 'capacities to act' on the captured risks.
Investments in poor children save more lives per dollar spent, new UNICEF study says
Unless the world makes faster progress on reducing child mortality, by 2030 almost 70 million children will die before reaching their fifth birthday
Download the report, photos and videos: http://uni.cf/2seRgNw
NEW YORK, 28 June 2017 – Investing in the health and survival of the most deprived children and communities provides more value for money, saving almost twice as many lives for every US$1 million spent as equivalent investments in less deprived groups, according to a new UNICEF analysis.
Narrowing the Gaps: The power of investing in the poorest children presents compelling new evidence that backs up an unconventional prediction UNICEF made in 2010: the higher cost of reaching the poorest children with life-saving, high-impact health interventions would be outweighed by greater results.
“The evidence is compelling: Investing in the poorest children is not only right in principle, it is also right in practice – saving more lives for every dollar spent,” said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake. “This is critical news for governments working to end all preventable child deaths at a time when every dollar counts. Investing equitably in children’s health also saves futures and helps break intergenerational cycles of poverty. A healthy child has a better chance of learning more in school and earning more as an adult.”
Unless progress on reducing child mortality accelerates, by 2030 almost 70 million children will die before reaching their fifth birthday.
Drawing on new data from the 51 countries where around 80 per cent of all newborn and under-five deaths occur, the study shows that improvements in coverage of life-saving interventions among poor groups helped decrease child mortality in these countries nearly three times faster than among non-poor groups.
Crucially, the study uses new data and modeling tools to demonstrate that interventions reaching children in poor groups proved 1.8 times more cost-effective in terms of lives saved.
The study selected six key health interventions as indicators to assess access to high-impact maternal, newborn and child health interventions: the use of insecticide-treated bed nets, early initiation of breastfeeding, antenatal care, full vaccination, the presence of a skilled birth attendant during delivery, and seeking care for children with diarrhea, fever or pneumonia.
Specifically, the study found that:
• Access to high-impact health and nutrition interventions has improved most rapidly among poor groups in recent years, leading to substantial improvements in equity.
• During the period studied, absolute reductions in under-five mortality rates associated with these changes in coverage were nearly three times faster among poor groups than non-poor groups.
• Since birth rates were higher among the poor than the non-poor, the reduction in the under-five mortality rate in poor communities translated into 4.2 times more lives saved for every million people.
• Of the 1.1 million lives saved across the 51 countries during the final year studied for each country, nearly 85 per cent were among the poor.
• While the per capita investment needed to improve coverage among the poor is greater than that required to reach the non-poor, these investments save almost twice as many lives per US$1 million invested as equivalent investments in the non-poor.
The study lists Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Malawi as some of the countries with high rates of under-five mortality where focus on the most deprived has made a difference for children. Between 1990 and 2015, under-five mortality decreased by half in Afghanistan and by 74 per cent in both Bangladesh and Malawi.
The findings come at a critical time, as governments continue their work towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which set a target of ending all preventable deaths among newborns and children under the age of five by 2030. Investing in children’s health and survival can also support the achievement of other global development goals, such as ending poverty (SDG 1).
Narrowing the Gaps calls on countries to take practical steps to reduce inequities, including: disaggregating data to identify the children being left behind; investing more in proven interventions to prevent and treat the biggest killers of children; strengthening health systems to make quality care more widely available; innovating to find new ways of reaching the unreached; and monitoring equity gaps using household surveys and national information systems.
###
About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.
For more information about UNICEF and its work for children, visit www.unicef.org
Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook
For more information, please contact: Najwa Mekki, UNICEF New York, +1917 209 1804, nmekki@unicef.org
Invertir en los niños pobres salva vidas
Se presentó hoy el informe Reducir las diferencias: El poder de invertir en los niños más pobres
· Estudio revela que las inversiones en salud de los más pobres salvan casi el doble de vidas por US $ 1 millón invertido, que las inversiones equivalentes en los no pobres.
· Se estima que en la región 196.000 niños menores de cinco años mueren por causas prevenibles, de los cuales 167.000 (85%) tienen menos de un año (2015). En la región, muere un niño cada tres minutos.
NUEVA YORK, PANAMA, 28 de junio de 2017– Un estudio realizado por UNICEF en 51 países, incluidos 5 de América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), reveló que invertir en la salud de los niños más pobres y las comunidades más necesitadas es costo efectivo, genera un mayor impacto y reduce las desigualdades.
El informe Reducir las diferencias: El poder de invertir en los niños más pobres presenta nuevas evidencias que respaldan una predicción poco convencional que UNICEF realizó en 2010: el mayor costo que supone llegar a los niños más pobres con intervenciones eficaces en salud se compensa por los mejores resultados que generan estas inversiones.
“Las pruebas son convincentes: invertir en los niños más pobres no sólo es correcto en principio, también es correcto en la práctica, ya que salva más vidas por cada dólar gastado”, dijo el Director Ejecutivo de UNICEF, Anthony Lake. “Esta es una noticia fundamental para los gobiernos que trabajan en la tarea de poner fin a todas las muertes infantiles prevenibles en un momento en que cada dólar cuenta. Invertir equitativamente en la salud de los niños también permite asegurarles un mejor futuro e interrumpir los ciclos intergeneracionales de la pobreza”.
Los 51 países incluidos en el estudio registran aproximadamente el 80 por ciento de las muertes de recién nacidos y niños menores de 5 años en el mundo. La investigación, que utilizó nuevos datos y herramientas de modelado estadístico, demostró que mejorar la cobertura de atención para salvar la vida de los niños más pobres, contribuyó a reducir tres veces más rápido la mortalidad infantil que en los no pobres de los países estudiados.
El estudio también muestra que, a menos que a nivel mundial se aceleren los progresos en la reducción de la mortalidad infantil, para el año 2030 casi 70 millones de niños morirán antes de cumplir cinco años. Sin invertir en los más desfavorecidos, que son quienes más mueren, no se cumplirá con los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, particularmente con el encaminado a acabar con las muertes prevenibles de niños menores de 5 años.
Específicamente el estudio global encontró que:
• El acceso a intervenciones de salud y nutrición de alto impacto ha mejorado más rápidamente entre los grupos pobres en los últimos años, lo que ha llevado a mejoras sustanciales en la equidad.
• Durante el período estudiado, las reducciones absolutas de las tasas de mortalidad de menores de cinco años asociadas con estos cambios en la cobertura fueron casi tres veces más rápidas entre los grupos pobres que entre los no pobres.
• Dado que las tasas de natalidad eran más altas entre los pobres que entre los no pobres, la reducción de la tasa de mortalidad de los niños menores de cinco años en las comunidades pobres se traducía en 4,2 veces más vidas salvadas por cada millón de personas.
• De las 1.1 millones de vidas salvadas en los 51 países durante el último año estudiado para cada país, casi el 85% se encontraba entre los pobres.
• Si bien la inversión per cápita necesaria para mejorar la cobertura entre los pobres es mayor que la requerida para llegar a los no pobres, estas inversiones ahorran casi el doble de vidas por US $ 1 millón invertido que las inversiones equivalentes en los no pobres.
Las conclusiones llegan en un momento muy importante, ya que los gobiernos han comprometido sus esfuerzos para alcanzar los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, que establecen como meta poner fin, de aquí a 2030, a las muertes evitables de recién nacidos y de niños menores de 5 años. Invertir en la salud y la supervivencia de los niños también puede servir de apoyo para el logro de otros Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible, como la eliminación de la pobreza.
Basado en los hallazgos del estudio, UNICEF pide a los países que tomen medidas prácticas para reducir las desigualdades, entre ellas: desagregar los datos para identificar a los niños que quedan atrás; invertir más en intervenciones probadas para prevenir y tratar a los mayores asesinos de niños; fortalecer los sistemas de salud para hacer más amplia la atención de calidad; innovar para encontrar nuevas formas de llegar a los no alcanzados; y monitorear las brechas de equidad utilizando encuestas de hogares y sistemas nacionales de información.
DESIGUALDADES EN LAC
Los resultados de este estudio son particularmente importantes para América Latina y el Caribe. El riesgo de morir antes de los 28 días de nacido en los países más pobres de la región es 2.5 veces mayor que en los países más ricos y el riesgo de que un niño muera antes de los 5 años en los países de ingresos más bajos es tres veces mayor en comparación con el grupo de países de ingresos más altos de ALC (2015).
“Las inequidades en salud siguen siendo generalizadas en la región y las mujeres, los bebés, los niños y las niñas más pobres, los menos educados, y los pertenecientes a minorías étnicas siguen siendo los más vulnerables” dijo María Cristina Perceval, Directora Regional de UNICEF para América Latina y El Caribe. A lo que añadió: “por ello, los países de América Latina y el Caribe deben, fortalecer los sistemas de salud e invertir en servicios de salud y nutrición de alto impacto y calidad, garantizando el acceso de las familias que viven en las comunidades, particularmente de las madres y los hijos a lo largo de todo el ciclo de vida”.
Se estima que en la región mueren 196.000 niños menores de cinco años de los cuales 167.000 (85%) tiene menos de un año (2015). Es decir, muere un niño cada tres minutos. La mayoría de estos niños muere por causas que podrían haberse evitado con intervenciones de salud pública de alto impacto y, en su mayor parte, de bajo costo como la iniciación temprana de la lactancia, la atención prenatal, esquemas de vacunación completa, el parto asistido por personal calificado, así como la atención adecuada y oportuna para niños con neumonía o diarrea.
El estudio global viene a reafirmar los hallazgos del informe sobre Equidad en Salud 2016 en América Latina y el Caribe que hizo UNICEF junto con la Universidad de Tulane el cual confirma que las inequidades en salud siguen siendo generalizadas en la región y que las mujeres, los bebés, los niños y las niñas más pobres, menos educados, y pertenecientes a minorías étnicas siguen siendo los más vulnerables (Ver documento anexo).
Para más información por favor contacte a:
Marisol Quintero, Oficina Regional de UNICEF para América Latina y el Caribe, correo mquintero@unicef.org, teléfono fijo +507 3017485 celular +507 6569- 2718.
Maria Alejandra Berroterán, Comunicaciones EWEC-LAC, correo: maberroterán@unicef.org, teléfono fijo +507 301 7482, celular +507 6297 2099
Le rapport Réduire les écarts : L’importance des investissements en faveur des enfants les plus pauvres présente des éléments de preuve irréfutables venant appuyer une hypothèse audacieuse émise par l’UNICEF en 2010 : les coûts supplémentaires engendrés par les mesures permettant à des interventions à fort impact en matière de santé d’atteindre les plus démunis seraient compensés par l’obtention de meilleurs résultats. Cette nouvelle étude se fonde sur des modèles et des données issus de 51 pays. Les résultats indiquent que le nombre de vies sauvées lorsqu’on investit en faveur des plus démunis est presque deux fois supérieur au nombre de vies sauvées par un investissement équivalent en faveur de groupes moins démunis.
Our Strategic Commitments
(1)
- **Impartiality** – We maintain impartiality in the selection of our staff. The selection of our beneficiaries purely is on a needs basis and not based on race, religion and/or political affiliation.
- **Staff Integrity** – We maintain a workforce who adhere to high moral and ethical principles.
- **Continuous Improvement** – We monitor and evaluate our work in order to improve on our past experiences and provide better humanitarian services as we progress.
(2)
- **Complementary Partnership** – We aim to work as much as possible with local partners on the field and enhance complimentary factors between both parties. In and beyond the field, we will work with partners who are responsible, transparent and accountable in accordance with our Principles of Partnership.
- **Consultative/Participatory** – We consult with our beneficiaries and staff and include their feedback into project plans to ensure holistic results.
- **Ethical Reporting** – We maintain the confidentiality of our stakeholders, especially beneficiaries, at all times.
- **Transparency/Information Provision** – We are transparent in sharing information of our financial statements, MERCY Malaysia’s constitution, MERCY Malaysia’s Humanitarian Accountability Framework, organisation missions and core values and commitments to all stakeholders.
(3)
- **Listening/Responsive** – We encourage feedback from our stakeholders through our Complaints Response Mechanism policy and we respond to all feedback. Our responses include evaluating all feedback to ensure continuous improvement.
- **Quality Management/Quality Assurance** – We continuously review our work and learn from our mistakes and apply our lessons learnt as we progress.
- **Financial Stewardship** – We promote good stewardship of our financial resources and are transparent about our expenditures.
- **Health, Safety and Security** – We strive to ensure the physical safety and the emotional well-being of all staff and volunteers, especially in the line of duty.
Highlights
WFP collaborates with Freetown City Council and other partners, to provide meals to youth groups engaged in cleaning Freetown as a preemptive measure to ensure good sanitation and reduce the risk of flooding.
WFP partnered with the District Agriculture Offices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to distribute food to farmers engaged in asset creation activities.
Operational Updates
In collaboration with Freetown City Council and other partners, WFP provided food assistance to 20 youth groups, engaged in Operation Clean Freetown. The exercise is a pre-emptive measure to ensure good sanitation and reduce the risk of flooding as the rainy season advances.
WFP partnered with the District Agriculture Offices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security to distribute food to farmers in Kailahun, Kenema, Pujehun and Bombali districts in exchange for rehabilitating community assets, including palm oil, coffee and cocoa tree crop plantations and Inland Valley Swamps (IVS) for year-round production of Sierra Leone’s staple crop, rice, under the Food Assistance for Assets (FFA) creation scheme.
Challenges
Partnerships
Le Réseau de systèmes d’alerte précoce contre la famine (FEWS NET) surveille les tendances des prix des aliments de base dans les pays vulnérables à l'insécurité alimentaire. Pour chaque pays et chaque région couvert par FEWS NET, le Bulletin des prix fournit un ensemble de graphiques indiquant les prix mensuels de l’année commerciale en cours pour certains centres urbains, et permettant à l’utilisateur de comparer les tendances actuelles à la fois aux moyennes quinquennales, qui indiquent les tendances saisonnières, et aux prix de l'année précédente.
L'Afrique de l’Ouest peut être divisée en trois zones agro-écologiques ou en trois bassins commerciaux (bassins de l’ouest, bassin du centre, bassin de l’est). Les deux sont importants pour l'interprétation du comportement et de la dynamique du marché.
Les trois principales zones agro-écologiques incluent la zone Sahélienne, la zone Soudanaise et la zone Côtière où la production et la consommation peuvent être facilement classifiées. (1) Dans la zone Sahélienne, le mil constitue le principal produit alimentaire cultivé et consommé en particulier dans les zones rurales et de plus en plus par certaines populations qui y ont accès en milieux urbains. Des exceptions sont faites pour le Cap Vert où le maïs et le riz sont les produits les plus importants, la Mauritanie où le blé et le sorgho et le Sénégal où le riz constituent des aliments de base. Les principaux produits de substitution dans le Sahel sont le sorgho, le riz, et la farine de manioc (Gari), avec les deux derniers en période de crise. (2) Dans la zone Soudanienne (le sud du Tchad, le centre du Nigéria, du Bénin, du Ghana, du Togo, de la Côte d'Ivoire, le sud du Burkina Faso, du Mali, du Sénégal, la Guinée Bissau, la Serra Leone, le Libéria) le maïs et le sorgho constituent les principales céréales consommées par la majorité de la population. Suivent après le riz et les tubercules particulièrement le manioc et l’igname. (3) Dans la zone côtière, avec deux saisons de pluie, l’igname et le maïs constituent les principaux produits alimentaires. Ils sont complétés par le niébé, qui est une source très significative de protéines.
Les trois bassins commerciaux sont simplement connus sous les noms de bassin Ouest, Centre, et Est. En plus du mouvement du sud vers le nord des produits, les flux de certaines céréales se font aussi horizontalement. (1) Le bassin Ouest comprend la Mauritanie, le Sénégal, l’ouest du Mali, la Sierra Leone, la Guinée, le Libéria, et la Gambie où le riz est le plus commercialisé.
(2) Le bassin central se compose de la Côte d'Ivoire, le centre et l’est du Mali, le Burkina Faso, le Ghana, et le Togo où le maïs est généralement commercialisé. (3) Le bassin Est se rapporte au Niger, Nigéria, Tchad, et Bénin où le millet est le plus fréquemment commercialisé. Ces trois bassins commerciaux sont distingués sur la carte ci-dessus.
West Africa can be divided into three agro-ecological zones or three different trade basins (West Basin, Central Basin and East Basin). Both important for understanding market behavior and dynamics.
The three major agro-ecological zones are the Sahelian, the Sudanese and the Coastal zones where production and consumption can be easily classified. (1) In the Sahelian zone, millet is the principal cereal cultivated and consumed particularly in rural areas and increasingly, when accessible, in urban areas. Exceptions include Cape Verde where maize and rice are most important, Mauritania where sorghum and maize are staples, and Senegal with rice. The principal substitutes in the Sahel are sorghum, rice, and cassava flour (Gari), the latter two in times of shortage. (2) In the Sudanese zone (southern Chad, central Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, Togo, Côte d'Ivoire, southern Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Serra Leone, Liberia) maize and sorghum constitute the principal cereals consumed by the majority of the population. They are followed by rice and tubers, particularly cassava and yam. (3) In the Coastal zone, with two rainy seasons, yam and maize constitute the most important food products. They are supplemented by cowpea, which is a significant source of protein.
The three trade basins are known as the West, Central, and East basins. In addition to the north to south movement of particular commodities, certain cereals flow horizontally. (1) The West basin refers to Mauritania, Senegal, western Mali, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and The Gambia where rice is most heavily traded. (2) The Central basin consists of Côte d'Ivoire, central and eastern Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, and Togo where maize is commonly traded. (3) The East basin refers to Niger, Nigeria, Chad, and Benin where millet is traded most frequently. These three trade basins are shown on the map above.
The National Refugee Commission ensures that the country is committed to regularizing the refugee situation, following the commitment made at the high-level meeting held in Geneva in 2011. "We are currently working on the local integration program for refugees and one of our concerns is the nationalization of refugees, to honor the commitment made by the country since 2011 at a high-level meeting on refugees in Geneva.", said Tibna Sambe Na Wana, coordinator of the National Commission for Refugees.
Guinea-Bissau ratified the United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees in February 1976, and as a signatory country it has fulfilled its obligation by welcoming refugees from different countries of the subregion, such as Liberia, Ghana, Sierra-Leone and Senegal.
The country currently hosts more than 8,000 refugees, of whom 98 per cent are individuals from Casamansa, the southern region of Senegal, between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau, which has been in conflict for more than 30 years with the Government of Senegal, over independence.
Prosper Gomes, a refugee from the neighboring Republic of Senegal, Casamance region, Nhafena village, has lived with refugee status for 26 years. He says he is "grateful to the host country, but he points to the problem of land tenure as one of the great challenges that refugees face."
Ibraima Djalo is Nigerino, has been in the country for ten years. He said he "fled the country in search of better living conditions, and thanks Guinea-Bissau for the welcome, since during those years everyone had no problem with both the authorities and the inhabitants of Gabu."
With the increasing flow of people in movement, for different reasons, it is very common to confuse the terms refugee, migrant and internally displaced, but they make all the difference. Each one lives a completely different situation and needs specific policies that can distinguish them.
The Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Guinea-Bissau, Mamadou Lamine Diop, explains that “a refugee is a person who has left his country for many reasons, including security or for political reasons, and has therefore fled his country Crossing an international border to find themselves in another country of asylum, and enjoy the same rights as any other human being.”
The coordinator of the National Commission for Refugees, reminds us that "we have to be able to distinguish a refugee from an asylum and migrant, even though everything in Guinea-Bissau is mixed, so I think that legislation must be reformed to clearly distinguish those people."
