MALAWI Humanitarian Situation

Transcription

1 MALAWI Humanitarian Situation Report No.1, 2016 MALAWI SITUATION REPORT # 1; 3 RD FEBRUARY 2016 Highlights The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee December 2015 report identifies additional 32,390 food insecure people in Blantyre, Mangochi, Dedza and Mzimba districts and recommends humanitarian assistance extension to from March to April 2016, funds permitting. In December, 137,255 children under 5 years were screened for acute malnutrition in 14 districts out of which 1,225 cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition and 6,305 Moderate Acute Malnutrition were identified and referred to Community Management of Acute Malnutrition facilities for appropriate management. Through implementing partners UNICEF and districts have now scaled up nutrition community mobilization and mass screening to 23 districts. Starting in January 2016, UNICEF is supporting the distribution of nutrition supplies to 579 Out Patient Therapeutic Programme nutrition (OTP) sites in an effort to ensure availability of the required supplies for early treatment of severely acute malnourished children. A total of 3,613 cartons of Ready to Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) were in January 2016 to the 579 sites enough to treat an estimated 3,970 SAM children. In cholera affected and high risk districts, a total of 142, 130 people have benefited from intensive hygiene promotion activities by UNICEF and its partners while 17,628 and 9,459 people have gained access to safe water supply and sanitation services respectively. SITUATION IN NUMBERS Date: 3 rd February million Children affected out of 2.87 million Food insecure people (The Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee, National Food Security Forecast, October 2015 to March 2016) 722 cholera cases (Daily Cholera Report, 3 rd February 2016, Ministry of Health) 3,185 Registered Asylum Seekers at Kapise Site in Mwanza (UNHCR, Contingency Planning Workshop, 1 st February 2015) UNICEF Appeal 2016 US$13,035,000 Funding gap 86% UNICEF Malawi humanitarian funding requirement as reflected in the 2016 Humanitarian Action for Children stands at US$ 13,035,000. Against the HAC requirements, UNICEF has received US$ million leaving a funding gap of 86 per cent.

2 Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs The rainfall pattern in the current season which started in November 2015 is being affected by the mature and strong El Nino which is affecting different parts of the world and is likely to persist till the end of the rainy season in Southern Africa including in Malawi. Low rainfall and dry conditions are being experienced in some parts of the country leading to crop wilting as a result of soil moisture stress. At the same time, floods and other disasters have been reported in some districts due to locally heavy downpours and strong winds. According to Department of Disaster Management Affairs, since the onset of the rainy season, 1,969 people have been affected by flooding while another 115,406 people have been affected by other weather related disasters (hailstorms, strong wings, stormy rains) bringing the total number of people affected in the current rainy season which started in November 2015 to 126,236 as of 24 th January Meanwhile, a National Food Security Forecast for the period of December 2015 to March 2016 which is based on a food security monitoring exercise by the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee in December 2015 shows that the number of affected population has slightly increased from 2,833,212 to 2,865,602 (representing 1.1% increase). The additional affected population requiring food assistance is in four districts namely: Blantyre, Dedza, Mangochi and Mzimba. The forecast further indicates that considering the delayed on set of planting rains during the current rainy season, the consumption season may be extended by one month (from March up to April 2016). The report therefore recommends humanitarian assistance extension to April 2016, funds permitting. Malawi started registering cholera cases in mid- December 2015 with the first cases reported from Machinga district. As of 3 rd February the cumulative number of cases in Machinga which has recorded the highest number of cases was (428) followed by Zomba (148) and Phalombe (78). All these districts surround Lake Chilwa. In total 722 cases and 10 deaths have been registered representing a case fatality rate of 1.4%. People fleeing disturbances in Mozambique have been arriving in Malawi since early July A Contingency planning workshop on the asylum seekers was held on Monday 1 st February According to UNHCR, as at the day of the meeting, there were approximately 3,642 Asylum seekers at Kapise Village in Mwanza of which 3,185 were registered. An additional 387 were reported to be in Chikhwawa and another 400 at another site in Mwanza. This brings the total number of reported asylum seekers to 4,429 of which 3, 185 are registered. Kapise site is now reported to be getting overcrowded. The situation for the asylum seekers is getting worrisome with new arrivals continuing to report increasing the needs which include shelter and food. The health and hygiene facilities are also a concern. A response plan based on a planning figure of up to

3 10,000 over a period of 6 months has been prepared, as well as a contingency plan based on a planning figure of 50,000 over a period of three months with the trigger point being 500 new arrivals per day over a period of one week. Humanitarian leadership and coordination UNICEF actively participates in the Humanitarian Country Team and the Inter Cluster meetings, which lead strategic and cross-sectoral coordination of humanitarian programmes in the country. UNICEF co-leads the WASH, Nutrition, Education and Protection clusters. Summary Analysis of Programme Response NUTRITION In December, 137,255 children under 5 years were screened for acute malnutrition in 14 districts out of which 1,225 cases of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 6,305 Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) were identified and referred to Community Management of Acute Malnutrition (CMAM) facilities for appropriate management. UNICEF through its implementing partners and districts have now scaled up nutrition community mobilization and mass screening to 23 districts. UNICEF has also recruited 14 Nutrition Field Monitors to support the community mass screening and CMAM nutrition activities in the districts. As at the end of December 2015, a cumulative 24,970 (12,105 Males, 12,865 Females) new SAM cases had been admitted in Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTPs) and Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRUs). Over 92 % and 83% children discharged from OTP and NRU were cured consistent with SPHERE standards of >75% recovery rate. While Average monthly NRU death rates between January and December 2015 is 11.1 %, the December 2015 figure is 9.4 %, which is within the recommended SPHERE of <10% mortality rate. Starting in January 2016 UNICEF is supporting the distribution of nutrition supplies to the final destinations (579 OTP nutrition sites) in an effort to ensure availability of the required supplies for early treatment of severely acute malnourished children. A total of 3,613 cartons of RUTF were delivered in January 2016 to the 579 sites adequate to treat 3,970 SAM children. In January 2016, UNICEF conducted field visits to Mzimba, Chikhwawa, Nsanje, Phalombe, Mangochi, Mwanza, Neno, Chiradzulu, Mulanje, Blantyre, Thyolo, Machinga, Zomba districts where they provided technical support on the emergency nutrition response, conducted district dialogue on nutrition screening, distributed Job Aids (screening forms, referral forms and reporting forms) and undertook nutrition supplies monitoring. WASH During the reporting period, UNICEF WASH activities focused on responding to the drought, cholera outbreak (mainly in Phalombe, Zomba and Machinga) districts and asylum seekers. Since the beginning of the year 2016 to date, a total of 142, 130 people have benefited from intensive hygiene promotion activities; and 17,628 and 9,459 people have gained access to safe water supply and sanitation services respectively. WASH supplies that were prepositioned before the onset of the cholera outbreak played a key role in responding to the Emergency.

4 UNICEF-WASH is working with Malawi Red Cross and Participatory Rural Development Organization (PRDO) to respond to the cholera outbreak and asylum seekers respectively. Other partners including MSF have also supported in the provision of WASH facilities in Cholera Treatment Centres (CTCs) and Kapise site. UNICEF continues to use the ongoing partnerships with District Council and NGOs in coordinating and preparing for any potential cholera outbreak or other emergencies in other areas as well. Preparedness continues to be very critical especially in areas where there has been repeated cases of flooding and cholera outbreaks in the past years; such as in Nsanje, Chikhwawa and Blantyre districts. As a cluster co-lead for WASH, UNICEF is supporting government in convening meetings with WASH partners to coordinate the response. Communications for Development (C4D) UNICEF has mobilised partners who are responding to the cholera outbreak in the South Eastern Region (Machinga, Phalombe and Zomba) through social and behaviour change interventions since the beginning of January In Phalombe, Zomba and Machinga, UNICEF s partner PSI Malawi has conducted 14 community video shows and mass hygiene promotion campaigns through road shows and night community cinemas, reaching out to over 40,766 people through 38 road shows in highly populated areas and markets. Also in partnership with district health offices, UNICEF partners EXP Momentum and Face to Face Marketing have conducted 30 cholera awareness and prevention campaigns in highly populated areas such as markets and trading centres reaching out to an estimated total of 28,000 people through road shows. UNICEF partner Development Communications Trust (DCT) has conducted 15 community dialogue sessions led by a total of 215 leaders (a mix of village chiefs, village health committees, health advisory committees and councilors), followed by outreach meetings with communities in TA Jenala in Phalombe through radio listening club members, reaching out to an estimated population of 2,150. UNICEF partner Malawi Broadcasting Corporation s Development Broadcasting Unit (DBU) has produced three radio jingles creating awareness about the cholera outbreak to the general population that have been broadcasting on MBC Radio. UNICEF partner DCT is currently producing interactive radio programmes with radio listening clubs in Phalombe to create awareness about the cholera outbreak and to disseminate information about its prevention and roles of different stakeholders, which will be broadcast on Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC), Chancellor College Community Radio and YONECO FM. Education In Mulanje district which was affected by floods in 2015, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology with 8 school tents to replace the worn out tents for temporary classrooms at Chingoli primary school benefiting 2,535 learners, 1,342 girls and 1,193 boys. UNICEF supported the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology in identification of schools within the Joint Programme for Girls Education as well as drought and cholera affected schools where 176 trained volunteer teachers will be deployed in early February 2016.

5 The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology through the Education cluster conducted assessments and identified 2 schools (Chikonje in Nsanje and Chingoli in Mulanje districts) for reconstruction and 80 others for rehabilitation in the 15 districts most affected by the 2015 floods and drought affected districts under Malawi Floods Emergency Recovery Project (MFERP) funded by the World Bank. UNICEF as the cluster co-lead for Education continues to support the Ministry of Education in convening cluster meetings and coordinating the response. The cluster convened two separate cluster meetings on 6 th and 20 th January 2016 respectively which discussed among other things, reenergising the cluster coordination system, response to adverse effects of El Nino and cholera on education and fast tracking the deployment of volunteer teachers to schools to support, teaching and learning, provide psychosocial support and care, support in monitoring school feeding, work with adolescent and youths on agri-business and other livelihood activities and conduct sanitation and hygiene awareness promotion activities in order to prevent the spread of cholera and other water borne diseases especially in Zomba and Machinga districts. Health and HIV UNICEF is working closely with partners in effective case management and infection control in cholera treatment camps. In addition to supplies sent to affected districts in early January, UNICEF sent additional supplies of 30 cholera beds and two (2) cholera kits for the response which are adequate to treat 800 cholera patients. UNICEF is also working closely with partners especially with MSF, PSI and Malawi Red Cross. UNICEF also mobilized 20x25 sq. m tents from local Norwegian Church Aid and has distributed the tents to five cholera prone districts for effective case management and infection control. In addition to supply provision, UNICEF continues to deploy teams on the ground that are providing technical support for the containment of the outbreak and is supporting two of its partners (Malawi Red Cross Society and PSI) to undertake community mobilization and health education activities. In response to the asylum seekers situation, UNICEF conducted a joint follow up assessment at Kapise site. The assessment findings indicate that malaria, acute respiratory tract infections, diarrhoea are the most common causes of morbidity with increased incidence of malaria during the month of January. There is a potential threat of cholera outbreak because of poor hygiene and sanitation condition at the site. Typhoid fever outbreak is also anticipated since it is endemic in villages in the neighbouring district, and bordering Mozambique. The immunization status of the asylum seekers is not well established and therefore there is a potential measles and other vaccine preventable diseases outbreak. In response to this UNICEF has planned to conduct integrated measles immunization campaign to children 9 months to 15 years old at Kapise site and surrounding villages. In order to ensure the availability of health services, UNICEF will support provision of essential drugs for case management of common child hood illness, including amoxicillin, ORS, Zinc and anti-malaria drugs. UNICEF is also working with partners, including the Mwanza District Health Office, to provide mobile services in an effort to address the lack of availability of HIV prevention, care and treatment services as indicated in the assessment.

6 Protection Through joint efforts between the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare and UNICEF, 28 food/cash distributors and monitors from Concern Universal implementing activities in drought affected Dedza district have been trained on protection mainstreaming with the participation of the district social welfare office. In total 271 of 387 distributors have been trained since September. In Nsanje district that was affected by floods in 2015, Action Aid in partnership with UNICEF, supported strengthening of child protection systems in resettlement sites as part of floods recovery support. Upon training child protection committees and awareness-raising to children, caregivers and community members, collaboration between the committees, the victim support units and the community police has been strengthened. Sixteen (16) girls and 25 boys who were denied access to school going back to school. In one group village head, by laws, enforced by community police have been introduced to ensure that children attend schools. In addition, 39 girls and 41 boys have benefitted from psychosocial support through psychosocial support committees. Construction of two flood resistant Community Based Child Care Centres (CBCC s) has also been completed. Supported by UNICEF, the Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare, and Pakachere are conducting a follow-up on a qualitative assessment that indicated exchange of relief items with sex and money by non-humanitarian workers during the 2015 flood response. PSEA (Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual Abuse) measures are being strengthened with WFP appointing PSEA focal points at all implementing partners while UNICEF/UNFPA and WFP are planning to jointly support residential training for all PSEA focal points to orient on global standards, raise awareness on PSEA and develop action plans ensuring commitment from civil village and civil area protection committees. Additionally, Malawi Police Service has begun sensitization of police on gender based violence to lower police formations, and strengthen the identification and referrals of child protection cases. At Kapise Asylum seekers site, through the District Social Welfare Office supported by UNICEF, 29 unaccompanied and separated children, 21 girls and 8 boys, have been reunified with their caregivers. Funding UNICEF Malawi humanitarian funding requirement as reflected in the 2016 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) stands at US$ 13,035,000. Against the HAC requirement UNICEF has received US$ million, leaving an 86 per cent funding gap. Funding Requirements January to December 2016 Appeal Sector Requirements Funds received* Funding gap $ % Nutrition 7,130,000 1,771,585 5,358,415 75% Health 1,500, ,500, % Water, sanitation and hygiene 1,200, ,200, % Child Protection 600, , %

7 Education 1,875, ,875, % HIV and AIDS 200, , % Cluster/Sector Coordination 530, , % Unallocated balance 0 0 Sub-Total 13,035,000 1,771,585 11,263,415 86% Carry-forward from Grand Total 13,035,000 1,771,585 11,263,415 86% *Additional funds for Humanitarian Response (USD 1,669,672) received in regular OR Grants. Next SitRep: 02 nd March 2015 Who to contact for further information: Mahimbo Mdoe Representative, Malawi Telephone: Facsimile: mmdoe@unicef.org Roisin De Burca Deputy Representative, Malawi Telephone: Facsimile: rdeburca@unicef.org Angela Travis Communications Officer, Malawi Tel: Fax: +: atravis@unicef.org

8 Annex A SUMMARY OF PROGRAMME RESULTS WATER, SANITATION & HYGIENE Internally displaced persons and host community members provided with safe water as per agreed standards People provided with access to sanitation/temporary latrines People benefitted from hygiene promotion campaigns EDUCATION Children received school supplies, psychosocial support, care and standby teaching from 200 volunteer teachers Girls and boys that are in and out of school accessed livelihood skills, literacy and social services HEALTH Children aged 6 to 59 months immunized against measles Children provided with access to life-saving curative interventions NUTRITION* Children under 5 years with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) enrolled in therapeutic feeding programmes Children aged 6 to 59 months provided with Overall needs 2016 Target Cluster Response Total Results Change since last report 2016 Target UNICEF and IPs Total Results 65,000 21,228 50,000 17, ,000 9, ,000 9, , , , , , , , ,000 11,000 11,000 5, ,500 96,330 34, ,500 Change since last report

9 micronutrient supplementation CHILD PROTECTION Child protection cases recorded and referred to appropriate services 250 Vulnerable women and children reached with protection messages to expand knowledge on protection services and service points HIV and AIDS Emergency-affected women retained on HIV treatment emergency-affected adolescents provided with HIV-related information and access to services 10,000 10, ,000 0 * January 2016 results not yet available therefore not reported in the 2016 results table. Results reported under Summary Analysis of Programme Response are as of December 2015 (against 2015 targets).