Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Syria + 3 more

Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General (18 January 2018)

excerpt

Syria

Turning to Syria, our humanitarian colleagues are alarmed by continued reports of fighting in Syria’s Idleb Governorate, which has resulted in the displacement of over 200,000 newly displaced people in the area since 15 December and has impacted civilian infrastructure, particularly medical facilities. Between 5 and 8 January, attacks reportedly rendered three primary health care facilities inoperable. Yesterday, two ambulances were reportedly destroyed and a physician injured by explosive devices in the vicinity of Beir Jia’an.

The UN reminds all parties of their obligation to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure, including medical facilities and medical workers, as required by the international humanitarian law and human rights law.

Meanwhile, on the political side, the Deputy Special Envoy for Syria, Ramzy Ezzeldin Ramzy, is in Damascus, where he met today with the Deputy Foreign Minister of Syria, Feysal Mekdad. We do understand that there may be a press encounter afterwards and we’ll try to get you some type of transcript.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Turning to the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo], aid agencies in that country have appealed for $1.68 billion for 2018, the largest-ever funding appeal for the country, to respond to the dramatic deterioration of the humanitarian situation. The funds are urgently required to help over 13 million people.

Kim Bolduc, the Humanitarian Coordinator for the DRC, said that the past year has been one of the most difficult for millions of civilians, with the unrelenting cycle of violence, diseases, malnutrition and loss of livelihoods taking a toll on families. The geographical expansion of the humanitarian needs and worsening situations in existing crisis hotspots require a change in the response of the international community to address life-threatening humanitarian protection and needs.

There are more details on OCHA’s [Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] website.

Central African Republic

From the Central African Republic, the humanitarian community there is responding to the needs of tens of thousands of newly displaced people who have fled ongoing clashes between armed groups in the northern region of Paoua.

The UN and its partners have provided food to displaced families and host families will also receive assistance. Free health care services are being offered to the displaced and host families. Humanitarian agencies are also distributing hygiene kits to contain the spread of contagious diseases, while the Government has provided soap and clothes. Yesterday, aid workers also began the construction of community hangars to temporarily shelter those displaced who are not staying with host families.

More displacement is expected as fighting continues. Paoua town, which previously had 40,000 inhabitants, has seen its population triple in a few weeks. Villages 50 kilometres north of there are almost empty.

Kenya

In Kenya, the World Health Organization (WHO) is helping to contain an outbreak of Chikungunya disease in the city of Mombasa following reports of people showing symptoms for this mosquito-borne viral disease. Chikungunya was first reported in mid-December and as of 4 January, the Ministry of Health had received some 69 cases. WHO is providing technical support to the Government and is closely monitoring the situation.