Highlights
Chad has a prevalence of Global Acute Malnutrition among children aged 6 to 59 months of 11.7% and an estimated target Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) caseload of 176,900 for 2016 (November 2015 SMART Nutrition Survey).
An inter-cluster assessment was carried out from January 14th to 18th to Liwa and Daboua, an area in the Lake region inaccessible since the Bagasola market attacks in October 2015. The mission has confirmed the existence of 22 IDPs sites with dire humanitarian needs in the sub-prefectures of Daboua (12 sites) and Liwa (10 sites).
Eight IDP sites in Liwa, Bagasola and Bol health districts have benefited from mobile clinics services funded by UNICEF. 1,628 patients, including 659 children under five years of age (40.5%), benefited from curative consultations.
In the Dar Es Salam refugee camp UNICEF supports a voluntary HIV testing center, where 42 of the 104 people tested (40.7%) had tested positive (35.5% men and 47.6% women) and were put under ARV treatment. In Bagasola 1,390 people were tested, of which 439 were positive (31.5%) and were put on ARVs. HIV has become a major health concern in the region with very high proportion of people testing positive.
In addition to funding for the Lake emergency, additional funds are urgently required for the response to the returnees from Central African Republic, which has received no new emergency funding in the last year. It is particularly urgent to mobilize the 4,900,000 USD needed to cover at least 52,000 cartons of RUTF by end of March in order to be able to secure the pipeline for the third quarter of 2016.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
31 January 2016
2,200,000 Children affected (UNICEF HAC 2016)
176,900 Children under 5 with Severe Acute Malnutrition in 2016 (Nutrition Cluster 2016)
90,000 Returnees from Central African Republic (DTM, November 2015)
47,000 Displaced persons registered in the Lake Region (ORS, Feb 2016)
UNICEF Humanitarian funding needs in 2016 US$ 62.4 million
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Impact of violence in the Lake Chad region
The situation is dynamic as primary and secondary (or more) population movements continue in the Lake region, with military actions and attacks by Boko Haram. The latest suicide attacks took place on January 31 in Guité and Mitérié localities on market day, resulting in 3 deaths and 50 wounded.
In the Lake region, there are currently 42 IDP sites (OCHA Map, 20 January 2016) and one refugee camp. It remains difficult to estimate the accurate numbers of people internally displaced due to multiple ongoing waves of displacements, lack of access to some areas due to security risks, and very limited resources. Authorities secured and opened the route from Bagasola towards Daboua in the Northwest of the Lake region at the end of December. However, in some areas West and South of Bol and Bagasola, humanitarian access remains limited due to security and logistical constraints. An inter-cluster assessment was carried out from January 14th to 18th to Liwa and Daboua, an area inaccessible since the Bagasola market attacks of October 2015. The mission has confirmed the existence of 22 IDP sites with dire humanitarian needs in the sub-prefectures of Daboua (12 sites) and Liwa (10 sites). It was estimated that 56,639 (11,244 households) displaced people live in the 22 sites.
Food, NFIs and shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, health, nutrition and education needs are huge and urgent especially in large sites established in the last quarter of 2015. Among these sites, Magui, Bourora Amma, Digou and Dileron are classified high priority based on the severity analysis conducted by the clusters, including criteria such as size and access to essential services like water and health. However the mission’s report highlights several smaller sites with high vulnerability due to lack of access to services. These needs are in addition to those identified in the Bol and Bagasola areas, where humanitarian actors continue to extend humanitarian assistance to cover all IDP sites.
Two new prefectures have been created in the Lake region, thus raising the local authorities means available to face the ongoing security situation. Bagasola and Ngouboua sub-prefectures now make up the Kaya Department, while Liwa, Daboua and Kaiga sub-prefectures are the new Department of Fouli. The capital of the Region continues to be the town of Bol.
Refugees, returnees from CAR and stateless persons in the South
As of 31 January, 65,383 refugees from Central African Republic continue to live in Chad, according to UNHCR. In addition, according to the latest publicly available data from the Camp Coordination and Camp Management Cluster, about 90,000 returnees fleeing violence in Central African Republic live in camps and host communities in Southern Chad. At the end of 2015, the three national NGOs that manage the Central African Republic returnee sites in Southern Chad informed of their intention to scale down their presence to the bare minimum due to lack of payments. SECADEV, the Chadian Red Cross and ADES were contracted by the Chadian government as site managers in early 2014, but have not been paid since mid-2014. In addition, IRC, one the main providers of primary healthcare in the returnee sites announced the end of its funding for this activity as of 31 December 2015.
A joint UNICEF and OCHA mission from 2nd to 5th January visited the returnee sites to take stock of the outstanding emergency needs in the sites and identify opportunities for transition solutions to bridge outstanding humanitarian and emerging development needs in a durable manner. As WFP covers food needs, the main concerns of returnees include access to livelihood activities, health and education services as well as other opportunities for the youth.
Furthermore, statelessness and lack of administrative papers among adults makes it harder for them to move, find jobs and reduce aid dependency, an issue that continues to be at the center of advocacy by humanitarian actors.
Food insecurity and malnutrition
In addition to the impact of the Nigerian crisis on the country, the Sahelian region and parts of the south of the country are experiencing a decline in agricultural production due to poor rainfall during 2015, particularly in connection with El Niño. A survey conducted by the NGO Première Urgence in December 2015 in the region of Ouaddai in the East of the country estimated the cereal deficit at 21% and 24% respectively in the two departments where the assessment took place (Ouara and Assoungha). According to the SMART survey conducted in October- November 2015, Chad has a prevalence of 11.7% of global acute malnutrition, with 7 regions showing a rate above the crisis threshold (15%) and with alarming severe acute malnutrition rates.