A new Wild Polio Outbreak was confirmed in Mogadishu. WHO and UNICEF are supporting an immediate emergency response by Health authorities: It will include three initial vaccination rounds in 16 districts of Mogadishu, targeting over 350,000 children under the age of five, and in Afgoye district, targeting 90,000 children under the age of ten. It is estimated that at least 500,000 children in accessible and inaccessible areas are currently unvaccinated.

On Monday 13 May, continuous rain and consequent floods have affected more than 3.47 million people in 204 counties and cities in 12 provincial-level regions.

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and the provinces of Hunan and Guizhou are the most affected regions.

A total of 19 people reported dead, 187,000 are in urgent need of resettlement and assistance. The rain has toppled some 5,000 houses, damaged another 46,000 and destroyed 26,900 hectares of crops.

The European Union will allocate an extra €12 million in humanitarian aid for Mali. This was announced today by ECHO´s commissioner Kristalina Georgieva during the international donor conference for the development of Mali, organised in Brussels jointly by the European Union, France and Mali.

08/05/2013 – The goal: putting resilience on top of the agenda. The venue to do so: an extremely at-risk country, Haiti. The Political Champions of Resilience, a group established in 2012 with high-ranking officials from leading international institutions – including the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department ECHO, UNDP, OCHA, CARICOM, the UK, USAID, and the World Bank – held a two day meeting on April 20th and 21st to draw increased attention and resources towards disaster resilience.

Islamabad/Brussels, 8 May 2013 - The European Union has provided € 300,000 from its Nobel Peace Prize money to UNICEF to support its educational activities for children affected by a lack of security in parts of northwestern Pakistan. The agreement was formalised today in Islamabad, between Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, Ambassador and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan and Dan Rohrmann, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan.

Field observations indicate that many people who have been affected by the food crisis in 2011/2012 will require assistance in 2013. Access to adequate and balanced diet remains illusory.

In rural villages across north-eastern Uganda, drought is the most feared threat. Despite the Karamoja region receiving rains every season for the past three years, farmers and livestock keepers are apprehensive.

In Tokora Parish in the Nakapiripirit district, Loise Lemukol, a 38-year old mother of seven, says she is ready for it. “I have enough food to last me till the next harvest, and I can still get more from our ‘bank’,” she says.

Uganda’s Karamoja region is known for its harsh climate, cyclical cattle raids, the ever high rates of malnutrition, and alcoholism. It is one of the poorest regions of Uganda, and home to about 1.2 million people, most of them living in abject poverty.

North-east Uganda has been dependent on aid hand-outs for decades. Every time a car passes by the manyattas (traditional huts), kids come running hands outstretched. The four-wheel drive branded car represents some form of freebie, and the jeeps roaming these plains are many.

As of April 23, following heavy rainfall, flood has affected about 9,000 households in Somali Regional State, particularly in Korahe, Degehabur, Jarar and Shebelle areas. In East Hargeh Zone of Oromia Region, as well as in Wolyita and Sidama Zone in SNNPR Region, flood has affected about 1,300 people.