ReliefWeb

HIGHLIGHTS

• The humanitarian community is mobilizing to provide life-saving, emergency assistance to vulnerable Afghan families over winter. However, a longer-term view is essential to break cyclical patterns of need.

• For IRC, cash assistance to respond to emergencies is working: their global strategy aims to increase use of cash in humanitarian assistance from about 6 per cent in 2015 to 25 per cent by 2020.

• A new study examines the way conflict affects how humanitarian organisations operate.

• WHO report that with the large number of returnees, health services are overstretched.

HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE PLAN FUNDING

339 million MYR revised request (US$), 198.9 million received (US$)

(Reflects funding on Financial Tracking Service as of 1 Dec 2016) Source: http://fts.unocha.org

Winter Planning Aims to Save Lives

Winter in Afghanistan can be bitterly cold, and for many vulnerable Afghan families – internally displaced persons (IDP) and recent returnees from Pakistan included – the cold season is a challenging time with exacerbated humanitarian needs. Acute respiratory illnesses (ARI), largely pneumonia, is a leading cause of death among children under 5 years in Afghanistan, and recorded cases increase significantly over winter. According to DEWS (the Disease Early Warning System), in the last week of November, over 120,000 ARI cases and 22,000 pneumonia cases were recorded, compared to 80,000 and 13,000 cases recorded respectively in one week in May.

For the coming months ahead, seasonal forecast models indicate that Afghanistan will experience average to below average rain and snowfall, and above-average temperatures, resulting in the likelihood of a relatively mild winter ahead. Even so, early and heavy snowfall has already impeded access to at least 13 districts in Northern provinces, including ten in Badakhshan. As winter progresses, other districts across Afghanistan will become hard to access or completely cut off, due to heavy snowfall and the impact of winter rains on already very poor roads. This is particularly expected in the central highlands region.

Even for families not necessarily cut off during the winter months, the season can still result in greatly increased challenges, particularly for those who are already extremely vulnerable. Many IDPs and impoverished families rely on precarious daily labouring income, of which there are fewer opportunities during winter. Wheat grain prices tend to rise substantially – between 10 and 25 per cent on average - during the autumn and winter particularly in areas where extreme weather impacts market access. This leads to greater food insecurity for Afghan families, who may resort to negative coping mechanisms during leaner months, such as reducing the frequency and size of meals.

In preparation, the humanitarian community has been mobilizing to mitigate the humanitarian impact of winter. One important aspect has been the pre-positioning of commodities. As one example, ahead of the winter freeze, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has sent food to some of the most remote areas in the country. The supplies, which include wheat, pulses, oil and salt, will assist around 150,000 impoverished Afghans that have been identified as being at high risk due to anticipated challenges in being able to access local markets due to inclement weather. Similarly, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has already dispatched essential trauma, medical and pneumonia kits to areas expected to become inaccessible, including in Kunduz and Badakhshan to ensure communities have medical resources and to protect against seasonal illnesses.

In addition, the humanitarian community is also responding to the pronounced needs of recent Afghan returnees from Pakistan, by distributing winterized tents, firewood, blankets, fuel, winter clothing and cash; particularly targeting those who have been unable to find adequate shelter. For example, the Danish Refugee Council, Norwegian Refugee Council, Relief International, CARE, ADRA, Save the Children and other humanitarian agencies have been providing winterization support; and IOM are gearing up to distribute 1,925 shelter and winterization packages (each with family tent, tarp, blankets, cash for fuel and a gas heater), to undocumented returnees in Kabul,
Nangarhar and Kunar.

With record numbers of IDPs this year, joining an estimated 1.2 million Afghans living in prolonged displacement as of the end of 2015, in addition to the more than 600,000 returnees from Pakistan, even conservative estimates would project that next year, more than 1.5 million Afghans will be living in long-term displacement.

Mr. Mark Bowden, the UN Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary-General and Humanitarian Coordinator in Afghanistan, recently said that trends of year-on-year increases in the number of conflict-induced IDPs requires the humanitarian community, government and development partners to do more to work together to effectively address the growing issue of Afghan families living in long-term displacement. “I am concerned these record figures show not just an alarming number of new IDPs, but a longer term crisis where increasing numbers of families in Afghanistan are facing prolonged displacement.” said Mr. Bowden. “We must collectively rethink the manner in which we provide assistance and ensure that vulnerable displaced families not just receive lifesaving, emergency humanitarian assistance, but support that delivers a real opportunity for IDPs to rebuild their lives for the long-term.”