Key facts on international humanitarian assistance efforts in Darfur
June 26, 2004 (AP) — The United Nations and international relief organizations have been mobilizing to provide food, shelter, water and other life-saving assistance to one million displaced persons affected by the conflict in Darfur, as well as an estimated 150,000 refugees in Chad.
The United Nations estimates that a total of 2.2 million people will require humanitarian assistance in 2004.
Here are some key facts provided by the United Nations:
– Close to 600,000 in Darfur were provided with food during May by the U.N. World Food Program and its international relief organization partners. WFP hopes to reach 1.2 million by the end of August, but the United Nations says 2 million are desperately in need of food.
– By the end of June, enough shelter material and blankets will be on the ground to reach 90 percent of the one million displaced persons affected by the conflict in Darfur. U.N. officials are coordinating the distribution.
– About 350,000 people have been provided with access to clean water by U.N. agencies and relief organizations and latrine construction is accelerating. But the United Nations says “massive needs remain in this area.”
– The U.N. Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, the Sudanese Ministry of Health and several relief organizations have organized a massive measles immunization campaign targeting more than 2.2 million children in Darfur. It has covered south Darfur and is currently working in north and west Darfur where access to the population is most difficult.
– Eighteen therapeutic feeding centers are now serving more than 2,000 severely malnourished children in Darfur, and three more are scheduled to open by the end of June. UNICEF and relief organizations running the centers say another 15 are needed to address the alarming and rising malnutrition rates.
– The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has move over 106,000 refugees to eight camps further inside Chad, away from the Sudanese border.
– The United Nations desperately needs US$140 million now to meet the demands for food, health, water, sanitation and other needs in Sudan.