Children Account for Half of All Suspected Cholera Cases in Yemen

Yemen records 124,000 cases of cholera, half are children  –Unicef

“Children continue to bear the brunt of the war in Yemen. Many who have become ill or have died from cholera were suffering from malnutrition. At least 923 people have died from the disease since late April. Children account for one quarter of the deaths.

“The cholera outbreak is overwhelming what remains of Yemen’s conflict-battered health system.”

“With no end in sight to the conflict, the cholera outbreak – and potentially other disease will continue to stalk the lives of children.”

Human Raison D’être No Longer Valid

• All Groups

1.12 million children have fled escalating violence in South Sudan

• More than one million children have now fled South Sudan where escalating conflict is ravaging the country, UNICEF and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, announced today.

• “The horrifying fact that nearly one in five children in South Sudan has been forced to flee their home illustrates how devastating this conflict has been for the country’s most vulnerable,” said Leila Pakkala, UNICEF’s Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Add this to the more than one million children who are also displaced within South Sudan, and the future of a generation is truly on the brink.”

• Children make 62 per cent of more than 1.8 million refugees from South Sudan, according to the latest UN figures. Most have arrived in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

• “No refugee crisis today worries me more than South Sudan,” said Valentin Tapsoba, UNHCR’s Africa Bureau Director. “That refugee children are becoming the defining face of this emergency is incredibly troubling. We, all in the humanitarian community, need most urgent, committed and sustainable support to be able to save their lives.”

• Inside South Sudan, more than one thousand children have been killed or injured since the conflict first erupted in 2013, while an estimated 1.14 million children have been internally displaced.

‘War in Yemen poses ever-growing threat to children’

10 Million children in Yemen facing a new year of misery

The following statement is attributable to Julien Harneis, UNICEF Representative in Yemen

“With no end in sight to the deadly conflict in Yemen, nearly 10 million children inside the country are now facing a new year of pain and suffering.

Continuous bombardment and street fighting are exposing children and their families to a deadly combination of violence, disease and deprivation.

“The direct impact of the conflict on children is hard to measure. The statistics confirmed by the UN (747 children killed and another 1,108 injured since March last year; 724 children pressed into some form of military activity) tell only part of the story. But they are shocking enough in themselves.

“The broader effects of the violence on innocent civilians extend much further. Children make up at least half of the 2.3 million people estimated to have been displaced from their homes, and of the more than 19 million people struggling to get water on a daily basis; 1.3 million children under five face the risk of acute malnutrition and acute respiratory tract infections. And at least 2 million children cannot go to school.

“Public services like health, water and sanitation have been decimated and cannot meet the ever-increasing needs of a desperate population. Few of the 7.4 million children requiring protection (including psycho-social support to help deal with the effects of their exposure to violence) will actually receive it.

“The longer-term consequences of all this for Yemen – which was already the Middle East’s poorest nation even before the conflict — can only be guessed at.

“Agencies like UNICEF are doing the best they can, in an extremely hazardous working environment. As a result, in 2015, more than 4 million children under 5 were vaccinated against measles and polio, and 166,000 children were admitted for treatment against malnutrition. Over 3.5 million affected people were provided with access to water and 63,520 people belonging to extremely poor communities were assisted with humanitarian cash transfers in the cities of Sanaa and Taiz.

“But so much more is needed. The children of Yemen need urgent help and they need it now.

“That can happen if all parties involved in the conflict – as is their duty under International Humanitarian Law — were to allow unhindered access to areas affected by the fighting, where civilians are dying because hospitals are not functioning, medicines are in short supply and children are at risk of dying from preventable diseases. Aid agencies would then be able to scale up their work accordingly.

“But what is really needed — above all else — is an end to the conflict. Only in that way can the children of Yemen look forward to 2016 with hope rather than despair.”

537,000 Yemeni Kids Risk “Severe Malnutrition” – UNICEF

Humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Yemen

Ongoing crisis in Yemen has caused “alarming malnutrition levels” among children due to the limited availability of and lack of access to food due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports caused by the conflict, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned.

“To address increasing malnutrition levels, aid agencies have scaled up assistance and treated 97,000 children for severe acute malnutrition in the past six months, while 65,000 children have been treated for moderate acute malnutrition,” said a senior official at UN HQ.

Some 537,000 children, or one out of eight children under age five, are now at risk of severe acute malnutrition in Yemen, compared to 160,000 children before the conflict, UNICEF estimates.

In addition the millions of civilians suffering from the violence, “almost 1.3 million children under five are moderately malnourished compared with 690,000 children prior to the crisis.”

“Yemen’s alarming malnutrition levels are aggravated by the limited availability of, and lack of access to food, due to blocked or damaged delivery routes and restrictions on food and fuel imports,” UNICEF said.

• As of October 2, 2015, unremitting violence in Yemen have left at least 505 children dead, 702  injured and more than 1.7 million at risk of malnutrition.

• Nearly 10 million children—80 per cent of the country’s under-18 population—need urgent humanitarian assistance.

• More than 1.4 million people have been forced to flee their homes.

Yemen Violence Taking Intolerable Toll on Kids: UNICEF

74 children killed, 44 others maimed amid escalating conflict in Yemen

The escalating conflict in Yemen is taking an intolerable toll on children, as they continue to be killed, injured, displaced and put at increasing risk from disease, UNICEF said in a statement.

At least 74 children are among the 600 killed in Yemen since the fighting began on March 26. Some 44 other children, who have been maimed, are among the 1,700 victims who have been wounded in the past 12 days.

However, these are conservative figures, said UNICEF, adding that it believes the total number of children killed is much higher because the conflict has intensified over the past week.

“Children are paying an intolerable price for this conflict.” said UNICEF Yemen Representative Julien Harneis speaking from the Jordanian capital Amman. “They are being killed, maimed and forced to flee their homes, their health threatened and their education interrupted. These children should be immediately afforded special respect and protection by all parties to the conflict, in line with international humanitarian law.”

An estimated 150,000 people across the war-torn country have fled their homes in search of safety.

Saudi Arabia together with four other Gulf states and Egypt have been conducting airstrikes against the Houthi rebels, who are fighting the “corrupt government” in Yemen.

Meantime, Jordan, Morocco, Pakistan and Sudan (!), have also expressed their willingness to participate in the military operation.

[It’s not yet clear IF/WHEN Burma and Thailand would also join the military operation!!]

What Experts Say: Yemen is on the verge of “total collapse”

“The Sunni versus Shi’a sectarian narrative misrepresents Yemenis’ multiple proclivities for partisan, regional and class-based leadership. If anything, the escalating war pits the billionaire royal elites of the Gulf against the downtrodden of the Peninsula. Bombardments are both terrifying and deadly. Attacks on al-Mazraq camp for internally displaced persons in Hajjah governorate, a dairy factory near Hodeida and other locations have left dozens of non-combatants dead, according to human rights groups. The UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, says ‘the country seems to be on the verge of total collapse,'” said Prof. Sheila Carapico, Dept of Political Science and International Studies, University of Richmond in Virginia.

1.7 Million Children Seriously Affected by Ukraine Conflict: UNICEF

GLOBAL CONFLICTS FOR NATURAL RESOURCES &
‘STRATEGIC ADVANTAGE’
STATE TERRORISM
WAR CRIMES
MASS MURDER
MASS DISPLACEMENT
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE
SCENARIOS: 911, 909, 717, 606, 444, 411,
222, 220, 219, 201, 200, 071, 069, 04, 02
.

Ukraine Conflict Forces 147 Schools to Close

Conflict in Ukraine has forced 147 schools to close in parts of Donetsk Oblast where fighting continues, and disrupted the education of some 50,000 children since September 1, said the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in a statement.

“The situation for more than 1.7 million children affected by the growing crisis in eastern Ukraine remains extremely serious. Since March 2014, over 1 million people have been displaced from the conflict-affected areas, including nearly 530,000 people within Ukraine, of whom at least 130,000 are children.”

Some of the schools have been destroyed, while others remain closed due to safety concerns, said UNICEF. “In government-controlled areas 187 educational institutions have been damaged or destroyed.”

Eastern Ukraine:Humanitarian Impact of the Conflict
16 December 2014 – Reliefweb/ACAPS

Death toll in Ukrainian conflict has more than doubled since mid-August, from over 2,000 to at least 4,707¹ as of December 16, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

“Violence has been ongoing in eastern Ukraine despite the ceasefire of 5 September. Heavy fighting and shelling have increased the number of killed and wounded, and between mid-September and mid-December, the number of registered internally displaced increased by over 266,000. A new ceasefire was announced for 9 December, with differing reports as to whether it has been violated.”

Ukraine Disaster Summary

• At least 4,707¹ people have been killed (including 298 from flight MH-17) and 10,322 others wounded in eastern Ukraine (source: OHCHR/WHO).
• About 5.2 million people live in conflict-affected areas.
• About 1.7 million children have been affected.
• At least 138 children killed or wounded.
• Some 542,080 people have been internally displaced.
  • Internally displaced women: 271,000
  • Internally displaced children: 130,274
• Total refugees and asylum seekers who fled to Russia, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary and Moldova: 597,956
• Most refugees left with few belongings and are in need of shelter, food and non-food assistance, placing pressure on neighboring regions,” said OCHA.[Sources: OHCHR 15/12/2014, UN 20/11/2014, UNICEF 12/12/2014, UN 15/12/2014]

¹This is a very conservative estimate of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine and World Health Organization based on available official data. These totals include: Ukrainian armed forces casualties as reported by the Ukrainian authorities; 298 people from flight MH-17; and casualties reported by civil medical establishments and local administrations of Donetsk and Luhansk regions: civilians and some members of armed groups (without distinguishing them). OHCHR and WHO believe that actual fatality numbers are considerably higher.

Related Links

• 4,000+ Killed in Ukraine Conflict: UN November 1, 2014

Toilet hands!

14 October: The UN Hand-Washing Day

Millions around the world washed their hands with soap to mark the inaugural Global Hand Washing Day celebrations. Washing hands with water is simply not enough. Washing hands with soap, especially before preparing food and after using the toilet, can potentially save the lives of almost 3.5 million children every year who die from diarrhea and pneumonia. UNICEF

Global Hand Washing Day in Timor-Leste. Private industry and the public sector have joined together to establish the first-ever Global Hand Washing Day, raising awareness to the risk of disease this simple act can prevent. Location: Dili, Timor-Leste. Date: 14 October 2008. Photo # 201397 – UN Photo/Martine Perret. Image may be subject to copyright.

Toilet hands

Meanwhile, researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine swabbed over 400 commuters at bus and train stations in  five major UK cities, and discovered that more than one in four had bacteria from feces on their hands. The results were as follows:

Newcastle – men 53%, women 30%
Liverpool – men 36%, women 31%
Birmingham – men 21%, women 26%
Cardiff – men 15%, women 29%
London – men 6%, women 21%

Dr Val Curtis, director of the Hygiene Center at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: “We were flabbergasted by the finding that so many people had fecal bugs on their hands.

“The figures were far higher than we had anticipated, and suggest that there is a real problem with people washing their hands in the UK.

“If any of these people had been suffering from a diarrhea disease, the potential for it to be passed around would be greatly increased by their failure to wash their hands after going to the toilet.”

Professor Mike Catchpole, director of the Health Protection Agency’s Center for Infections, said: “These results are startling and should be enough to make anyone reach for the soap.

“It is well known that hand washing is one of the most important ways of controlling the spread of infections, especially those that cause diarrhea and vomiting, colds and flu.

“People should always wash their hands after using the toilet, before eating or handling food, and after handling animals. And remember to cover all cuts and scratches with a waterproof dressing.”

Cases of norovirus – the winter vomiting bug – are rising in the UK, the HPA said. About a million people in the UK are affected by the bug each year.

“Norovirus is the most common cause of gastrointestinal disease in the UK with peak activity in terms of numbers of cases and outbreaks during the winter months, from October to March.” BBC reported.

Professor Catchpole said: “Norovirus is highly infectious and easily spread in settings where people are in close contact with one another so good hygiene, including frequent handwashing, is really important.”

Related Links:

• Norovirus Q&A
• Norovirus Technical Fact Sheet
• Norovirus and Foodhandlers
• Norovirus in Healthcare Facilities

Related News Links:

• Two die in suspected norovirus outbreak in New Zealnad—the bedrock of personal and food hygiene!!

• NZ Visitor Warning: Another Outbreak of Norovirus