UNICEF Emergency Response

Dear Friend,

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to over 215 countries with over 461,700 reported deaths and 8.7 million confirmed cases. While children seem to be less vulnerable to COVID-19 itself, the collateral impact on children and their families is significant, with the impact disproportionally affecting poor and vulnerable children and families. Some 1.29 billion children in 186 countries – 73.8 percent of all enrolled students – are directly affected by national school closures. These closures have put the nutritional health of 370 million children at risk by depriving them of school meals. Sufficient water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services are essential for adequate infection prevention and control (IPC); however, across the world, 2.1 billion people lack access to safe water at home and 4.5 billion people lack access to safely managed sanitation.

With your generous support, UNICEF and partners achieved the following results:

• Reached over 1.6 billion people with COVID-19 messaging;
• Provided over 11.5 million people with critical WASH supplies;
• Shipped more than 6.6 million gloves, 1.3 million surgical masks and 428,069 N95 respirators,
• Reached over 79.8 million children with distance/home-based learning;
• Together with Microsoft, announced an expansion of the Learning Passport partnership to enable high-quality digital learning during the crisis; and
• Reached over 830,000 children, parents and/or caregivers with mental health support

Your continued contribution to these efforts allows UNICEF to prevent new infections through public health education and outreach; the scale up of alternative communications channels to help provide education and child protection services; key relevant support to health systems to help boost supplies of key equipment; and tackle misinformation that could have harmful effects on children.

Thank you for your continued partnership in support of UNICEF’s emergency response efforts. Your generous support allows UNICEF to remain flexible in times of crisis and provide support to children when it is needed most.

In Partnership,

Whitney

Dear Friend,

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) is officially a public health emergency of international concern. The COVID-19 epidemic that originated in China has now spread to at least 28 countries and territories. Thanks to your support of UNICEF in emergencies, UNICEF is working with partners to help protect children and contribute to containing the virus.

The size and evolution of the outbreak and current knowledge on its ability to be transmitted through communities signals that the virus could still spread further within the region, despite the efforts by national authorities and the international community to contain it. While the virus has been spreading to other regions, the main burden remains in the East Asia and Pacific region. Urgent efforts are needed to contain the outbreak and to prepare health systems and communities to mitigate the impacts. The effect of a large-scale outbreak on children, especially poor and vulnerable children, can be immense— through disruption to education and health services, impacts on caregivers, and separation from family members.

Five-year-old Yuanyuan is from Wuhan in China, the epicenter of the outbreak of the coronavirus disease. Her parents and grandparents tested positive for COVID-19 and were admitted to a hospital. She was the only one in her family not infected with the virus and was left behind at home. Medical personnel in the hospital decided to look after the girl, and a volunteer helped keep her company. With tens of thousands of COVID-19 cases reported in Wuhan, the city has been under lockdown since 23 January as authorities work to contain the spread of the disease. Most of the city’s hotels were shut down, so the hospital vacated a room for Yuanyuan and the volunteer to live in. The hospital staff provided regular meals and some of the medical personnel taught Yuanyuan how to protect herself from the virus. Yuanyuan has been separated from her family for days but keeps a positive attitude. She follows the advice of the medical personnel looking after her to eat healthily, rest well and go outside for some sun. And with the help of the volunteer, Yuanyuan telephones her mother and cheers her up.

Given the global nature of the outbreak, UNICEF is engaging in preparedness activities and contingency planning for COVID-19 across regions in an effort to keep children such as Yuanyuan safe. UNICEF has also provided critical supplies - protective suits, masks, goggles, gloves - to protect health workers and minimize amplification of infection through health care-associated transmission. Thanks, in part, to your continued support, the first UNICEF personal protective equipment supplies were unloaded upon arrival from Denmark at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai in China on January 29, 2020. The first supplies were delivered weighing nearly six tons and including 97,221 masks and 10,861 protective suits for health workers in Wuhan. To date, a total of 187,221 masks, 28,861 protective suits, 12,000 protective goggles, and 1.2 million disposable gloves were delivered for use by health facilities and other local government departments directly supporting them, and there are thousands more goggles, protective suits and surgical gowns and gloves in the pipeline.

In addition to the provision of needed supplies, UNICEF is focusing on limiting human-to-human transmission and mitigating the impact of the outbreak on the health system and affected communities. This efforts include response or preparedness activities in countries around the world that:

• facilitate risk communication and community engagement activities, including through community-based communication, mass media and social media;
• ensure that children and pregnant and lactating women who are impacted by the outbreak are supported with adequate health care;
• assess and curtail the secondary effects of the outbreak, including by facilitating continued access to education where schools may be closed or quarantines imposed and address protection needs, including through the provision of psychosocial support to those directly or indirectly affected.

Thank you for your continued support. This rapid response would not have been possible without your commitment to UNICEF’s work in emergencies and the wellbeing of children everywhere.

In Partnership,

Whitney

Links:

• Want To Stop An Epidemic? Start With The Facts.

Dear Friend,

With over 2.9 million people in need, including 1.5 million children, the Central African Republic (CAR) is facing one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, given the proportion of the population in need of assistance.

Thanks to your support, UNICEF continues to focus on the protection needs of children, including their release from armed groups, reunification with their families and the provision of psychosocial support, while scaling up programming addressing sexual exploitation and abuse. UNICEF will maintain gender-sensitive water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) facilities and services on settlements for displaced people across the country and improve immunization rates in crisis-affected areas. Activities also support the resilience of children and their communities, including through cash-based approaches in emergency situations, and strong accountability to affected populations.

Thanks to contributions like yours, UNICEF and partners reached the following various programmatic goals, as of August 2019:

• More than 18,000 children with severe, acutre malnutrition admitted for therapeutic care;
• More than 30,000 children vaccinated against measles;
• Nearly 210,000 crisis-affected people accessing safe water;
• Nearly 53,000 children reached with psychosocial support, including access to child-friendly spaces;
• Nearly 1,000 children released from armed groups benefiting from socioeconomic reintegration and support;
• More than 76,000 boys and girls in crisis-affected areas accessing education

UNICEF will continue working to ensure children in the Central African Republic survive and thrive. From access to health and nutrition services to education opportunities, access to safe water and essential psychosocial support, your contribution is vital.

In Partnership,
Whitney Simon

Dear Friend,

Thanks to your continued support of UNICEF’s emergency response efforts, UNICEF has been able to work quickly and effectively throughout the highly complex outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Ebola virus has a fearsome reputation as a fast and ruthless killer in Democratic Republic of Congo. But there is another story to tell – many survive following supportive treatment that is available. These survivors are then immune to the disease. Many others avoid infection by vaccination, which can be administered to health workers and family members, thus protecting them from infection from their loved ones. Due to your support, UNICEF is able to work with our partners to raise awareness on the treatment and vaccination which can change everything for Ebola affected communities. Since the outbreak began in August 2018, UNICEF has achieved the following results:

• Reached more than 10 million people with lifesaving health messages
• Reached 157,133 children in 888 schools with prevention messages
• Assisted 830 families directly affected by Ebola
• Provided specialist care for 686 Ebola orphans
• Provided safe water to more than 1.3 million people in public, health facilities & schools

In order to prevent infections and save children’s lives, UNICEF will continue to scale our programs throughout the DRC and neighboring countries. These programs will aim to reach communities with health messaging that could keep them safe; boost water, sanitation and critical supplies in schools and health facilities; and provide counseling and special care to Ebola-affected children and their families.

Thank you for your support of our work and for investing in our emergency programs.

Sincerely,

Whitney Simon

irus has a fearsome reputation as a fast and ruthless killer in Democratic Republic of Congo. But there is another story to tell –many survive following supportive treatment that is available. These survivors are then immune to the disease. Many others avoid infection by vaccination, which can be administered to health workers and family members, thus protecting them from infection from their loved ones. Due to your support, UNICEF is able to work withour partners to raise awareness on the treatment and vaccination which can change everything for Ebola affected communities. Since the outbreak began in August 2018, UNICEF has achieved the following results:Reached more than 10 million people with lifesaving health messagesReached 157,133 children in 888 schools with prevention messagesAssisted 830 families directly affected by EbolaProvided specialist care for 686 Ebola orphansProvided safe water to more than 1.3 million people in public, health facilities & schoolsIn order to prevent infections and save children’s lives, UNICEF will continue to scale our programs throughout the DRC and neighboring countries. These programs will aim to reach communities with health messaging that could keep them safe; boost water, sanitation and critical supplies in schools and health facilities; and provide counseling and special care to Ebola-affected children and their families.Thank you for your support of our work and for investing in our emergency programs.Sincerely,Whitney Simon

Dear Friend,

More countries are embroiled in internal and international fighting now than at any time in the past 30 years and every conflict comes with terrible consequences for children. Each year, UNICEF’s humanitarian programs provide millions of children in conflicts and other emergencies with a range of lifesaving services to over 300 emergencies throughout the year. However, someemergencies are often smaller in scale and protracted leading to a reduced amount of media visibility and funds received. Consequently, the needs of children in these neglected and protracted crises are severely affected. Thanks to global emergencies support like yours, UNICEF has the flexibility to allocate funds to these forgotten emergencies and reach the most marginalized children in the most hard-to-reach areas such as:

KENYA

Disease outbreaks continue to affect vulnerable populations in Kenya, with polio reported in Nairobi, cholera reported in 20 counties and measles outbreaks reported in six counties. In addition, Kenya is now hosting more than 468,000 refugees and asylum seekers, of whom more than 268,000 are children. Additionally, the country is vulnerable to the effects of the El Niño phenomenon. Between March and September 2018, over 800,000 people were affected by flooding, including some 311,000 people who were displaced by floods. In response, UNICEF has supported nearly 143,00 children affected by diarrhea, malaria or measles, 31,000 people with safe water, and nearly 11,000 children with access to education in 2019.

HAITI

Haiti remains vulnerable to natural disasters, and in October 2018, was hit with an earthquake. An estimated 982,000 people are still facing severe food insecurity, including 39,000 children who will be affected by acute malnutrition. The risk of an upsurge in cholera remains high and over 640,000 people will require access to primary health care in 2019. The Haitian-Dominican migration situation also remains a concern, as most deportees arrive in Haiti under precarious conditions, without resources and separated from their families. On average, 10,000 Haitians are deported from the Dominican Republic every month. In response, UNICEF has supported more than 240,000 people with access to safe water, more than 37,000 children with learning materials and 10,700 children treated for malnutrition in 2018.

BURKINA FASO

The humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso intensified in 2018 due to continuing food insecurity as a result of persistent conflict in the North, East and Sahel regions. Approximately 1.5 million people are affected by conflict, including nearly 1.1 million children. The number of security incidents linked to violent extremist groups has almost doubled, increasing from 65 incidents in 2017 to 124 in 2018. Threats by violent extremist groups have led to 440 school closures since the beginning of the 2018/19 school year, depriving over 66,000 children of education. Persistent insecurity has also displaced nearly 23,000 children and is affecting access to health services. Additionally, in 2019, food insecurity will affect an estimated 676,000 people, and some more than 133,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition. In response, UNICEF has supported nearly 15,000 children treated for malnutrition, more than 12,000 children vaccinated against measles and more than 5,000 people with access to safe water in 2019.

Thank you for your generous support of UNICEF’s response to humanitarian emergencies around the globe. Your support has made, and will continue to make, a positive difference for children living through these lesser known emergencies.

Many Thanks,

Whitney Simon