UNICEF in Afghanistan
Working in partnership with the Afghan Transitional Authority, the humanitarian
community and the people of Afghanistan
Funding status as at 11 September
2002
UNICEF ITAP Funding Shortfalls
UNICEF Requirements in ITAP: US$ 191,850,000
Receipts (as of 31 August 2002): US$ 138,000,000 (72%funded)
Shortfall: US$ 53,850,000
- UNICEF funding shortfalls affect all sectors of ITAP.
- UNICEF will update the ITAP in the education section only, requesting an additional $10 million to procure educational supplies for the school year beginning March 2003.
Priority needs
- US$ 10m for purchase and delivery of school supplies in time for the March 2003 school year
- US$ 3m for Safe Motherhood Initiative
- US$ 5m for Expanded Programme on Immunization
- US$ 1m for nutrition
- US$ 2m for school sanitation and hygiene
- US$ 500,000 for reintegration and protection of child soldiers and war-affected youth
Since September 2001, UNICEF has supported the efforts of the Afghan Interim Administration - now the Afghanistan Transitional Authority (ATA) - to make substantial progress in a number of areas:
Survival
During the initial weeks following September 11th 2001, some 80 airlifts and 200 convoys brought UNICEF emergency relief supplies to Afghanistan.
To help children survive the harsh winter in Afghanistan, UNICEF provided more than 800,000 children with blankets, some 730,000 children with winter clothing and another 500,000 children with socks and boots.
To provide relief to earthquake victims in Samangan in early March, UNICEF delivered high protein biscuits, children's winter clothing, tents, mattresses, cooking sets and water purification tablets to thousands of affected families in northern Afghanistan.
Following further earthquakes in Nahrin and Burka provinces in late March, UNICEF delivered winter clothing, shelter and survival items, including sweaters for 17,800 women and children: shoes and socks for 7,800 boys and girls; tents for 3,820 families (over 15,300 individuals); plastic sheeting for 4,000 families; Family Kits to assist over 4,000 people; 1,200 blankets; mattresses for 1,600 families; and cooking sets for 133 families. UNICEF also provided baby kits for 3,500 families and 10,000 baby blankets. In the area of nutrition, UNICEF provided a month's supply of high protein biscuits for over 16,400 individuals affected by the earthquakes. UNICEF also delivered 20 basic and four supplementary health kits to respond to the health care needs of 200,000 people for three months in the earthquake zone.
Medical supplies and essential drugs to treat two million people for three months have been sent to hospitals and health clinics in the eastern, northern, northeastern and western regions of Afghanistan.
UNICEF's water and sanitation programme has brought water to 440,000 people in areas affected by drought and displacement.
UNICEF responded to the flooding in Qala-i-Nawand and Ab Kamari districts in April by immediately providing four metric tons of UNIMIX, 6 metric tons of high protein biscuits, 2,000 blankets, 800 children's sweaters and 300 family kits.
Cholera preparedness campaign (June 2002): The Ministry of Public Health, regional directorates and NGOs supported with oral rehydration salts, antibiotics, intravenous fluids for the treatment of severe dehydration cases, revitalization of the oral rehydration sections within health clinics, supply of chlorine etc.
Water and Environmental Sanitation
87 water systems including wells and handpumps are being installed in the Shomali Plain area to support the needs of 3,000 returnee families.
In drought-affected areas of Afghanistan, 400 villages have been provided with safe water and 900 sanitary latrines have been provided to families. 200,000 people have benefited from hygiene education campaigns to help reduce risk of disease outbreak.
A water and environmental sanitation package in schools is being designed in partnership with the Interim Administration and NGO partners, to cover a range of components such as hygiene and social mobilization and at establishing a monitoring framework against target and needs.
Rehabilitation of school and community water facilities is ongoing throughout the country. 125 schools have been fitted with adequate water and sanitation facilities, and 90 teacherstrained in hygiene education.
UNICEF supported the first International Conference on Water Resource Management & Development in late April 2002.
606 community-based water systems have been installed for 185,000 people across the country. Over 1,100 family latrines have been installed benefiting 7,500 people.
In urban areas, 702 handpumps have been replaced and/or repaired, serving some 275,000 people. Water and sanitation facilities have been repaired in five major hospitals. 2,500 wells have been chlorinated.
2,000 handpumps and related accessories have been provided to government counterparts, along with 10 well-drilling rigs.
Training has been undertaken for government technicians, including rig mechanics, masons and social mobilizers.
Education
In the first major shipment of supplies into Afghanistan after September 11th, the Children's Winter Convoy carried education material for 70,000 children in primary schools in Badakshan province.
UNICEF and partners supported home-based and community schools that remained open during winter. UNICEF provided 400 schools-in-a-box, sufficient for 32,000 students and 720 recreation kits for 30,000 children for these educational projects.
The Ministry of Education, with UNICEF support, launched a back-to-school campaign to help 1.78 million children return to school by March 23rd 2002. Initial results show that up to three times that number of children may have returned, exceeding all expectations. UNICEF and the Ministry of Education are now working to provide more supplies to schools and to accelerate the distribution of school textbooks and teaching resources to meet the additional needs. In preparation for the September school term stationery materials will be provided for 1.2 million primary and 300,000 secondary school children.
6,000 tents have been provided to establish temporary classroom spaces.
A nationwide assessment of education will report back in the coming month. Latest data indicates a higher rate of return by pupils than anticipated. Preliminary data from the rapid assessment indicate that almost 3 million children have enrolled in school in these areas alone. Almost half of these children are in first grade. On average, 30% of pupils are girls and an equivalent percentage of teachers are women. Teacher numbers, however, appear to be lower than necessary to cope with the large numbers of pupils coming back to the classroom.
UNICEF is supporting education for returnees and IDPs coming back to their homes. Support at this stage includes a public information and advocacy campaign on returnee education, by disseminating printed material and establishing an information network in UNHCR encashment centers to raise awareness on the reintegration of refugees/returnees/IDP students and teachers in the education system and providing basic learning material and tents to areas where returnees are resettled (e.g. Shomali Plains).
Over 30,000 teachers have received orientation in the use of new teaching materials, together with a programme with the BBC Afghan Service and the Ministry of Education
UNICEF has worked with the Ministry of Education to rehabilitate 300 provincial and district level warehouses to assist in the ongoing distribution of school materials as more children return.
UNICEF has distributed over 8 million textbooks provided by the University of Nebraska Omaha, along with 1.8 million supplementary teaching materials.
48 schools have been rehabilitated & reconstructed, or are nearing completion of work, across the country. UNICEF has committed to rehabilitating 174 schools this year.
125 schools have been fitted with adequate water and sanitation facilities (wells, handpumps and latrines)
Immunization
UNICEF and WHO launched a countrywide measles campaign targeting 10 million children aged 6 months to 12 years. As of August 2002, more than 8 million children have been vaccinated.
This campaign when completed is expected to avert more than 35,000 deaths among children in Afghanistan per year.
The polio eradication campaign in Afghanistan succeeded in vaccinating 5.28 million children under the age of five in the September 2001 round and 4.6 million children in the November 2001round, despite aerial bombardments and general instability. In 2002, to date there have been three immunization rounds, each reaching between 5 and 6 million children.
A final round will be staged in October. Hundreds of animals, cars and motorcycles are used for the operation, many rented with UNICEF support, and others lent by NGOs and UN agencies.
Polio NIDs in Afghanistan are being synchronized with dates in Pakistan for 2002 to ensure good coverage in the border regions, which are high-risk areas for cross-border transmission of the virus. More than 40 special vaccination posts were established at border crossings to ensure that returning children were also covered.
In addition to Afghan refugee children in Pakistan, refugee children in Iran and the Central Asian Republics were vaccinated as part of the national NIDs.
Safe Motherhood
Through partnership with NGOs and the Interim Administration, Mother and Child Health and Emergency Obstetric Care services are being supported in 20 districts.
A Safe Motherhood national workshop endorsed the vision for saving women's lives and secured consensus for the main strategies: improving coverage, utilization and quality of Emergency Obstetric Care services; increased number of skilled attendants at births; provision of effective antenatal care interventions at the community and health services level.
25 female obstetricians from Kabul and the five regional hospitals have been trained in Emergency Obstetric Care.
A reproductive age mortality survey has been conducted nationwide, with the aim to document maternal mortality statistics, to identify causes of maternal death and potential barriers to care. This is a joint partnership between the Centre for Disease Control, UNICEF and the Ministry of Public Health, with findings expected to be announced in late September.
In complement to this quantitative survey, a qualitative survey on maternal health started in August, with the purpose of identifying attitudes and practices related to maternal health and utilization of health services. The results will specifically help to define a broad programme communication framework for women's health.
The Afghan Society of Obstetrician and Gynecologists has been founded with UNICEF support.
A new training programme for auxiliary midwives, based in the community, has been launched in the eastern region by the NGO HealthNet International with UNICEF's support, as well as that of USAID and the Dutch Government.
Malalai Hospital, the largest maternity hospital in Kabul (15,000 deliveries every year) has been refurbished, water and sanitation facilities upgraded, equipped, supplied in drugs, with the support of several donors under UNICEF's coordination. The hospital will be the first "Center of Excellence" for competency-based training in Emergency Obstetric Care and improved services.
A team from Malalai Hospital participated in a three-week regional training programme on emergency obstetrics care in Bangladesh. The programme is conducted by John Hopkins Programme for International Education on Gynaecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO) Once the team members return to Afghanistan, they will act as trainers for health service providers across the country, starting with the Centres of excellence and expanding progressively to health services at provincial and district level.
A two-week journalism skills workshop is being held for Afghan female employees of Radio Afghanistan, as part of the ongoing Women's Health Radio Project, a joint initiative between UNICEF and WHO to help reduce maternal mortality through the dissemination of healthrelated messages through radio.
Nutrition
Working with WFP and NGOs, UNICEF is supporting 174 supplementary and 34 therapeutic feeding centers for more than 300,000 children, lactating and pregnant women all over the countries. UNICEF is currently working with 26 NGO partners in the feeding programme.
Five million children have been given Vitamin A in the second round of National Immunization Days (April 2002) - a major boost to the immune system.
In the Southern region, the blanket feeding intervention in two IDP camps that covers a total of 18,805 children, pregnant and lactating women is underway.
A household food security study was undertaken by Tufts University, in partnership with UNICEF. The report raises serious concerns about the status of households in drought-affected areas of the country. Following this study, a Nutrition Unit has been established within the Ministry of Public Health with the joint support of Tufts University and UNICEF, and a Nutrition Coordination Committee (NCC) has been formed. The unit is taking a lead to coordinate all NGOs involved in nutrition activities through the NCC.
UNICEF has begun a pilot project of nutrition community-based interventions in Panshjeer Valley, aimed at empowering the community on nutrition-related issues. A starting point is exploratory research on childcare perceptions, practices and beliefs.
World Breastfeeding Week was held in August, during which infant and young child feeding programme was launched, communication materials were developed (poster, banners, leaflet, fact sheet and flip chart), in order to promote the benefits of breastfeeding to mothers and children
Surveys on nutrition and mortality have been conducted in the western and northern regions and will be replicated in most areas of the country. Standardizing nutrition surveys is the first step in developing a comprehensive community-based nutrition and food security surveillance system.
In response to an outbreak of scurvy in Ghor province, UNICEF provided technical support as well as Vitamin C to treat some 260,000 people, including children.
UNICEF has begun a national iodized salt programme and is working through Mother and Child Health clinics to treat and prevent iron-deficiency anaemia.
In an effort to combat the high prevalence of diarrheal diseases, UNICEF distributed more than 150,000 oral rehydration salt (ORS) sachets and antibiotics in Kabul and other affected areas.
Child Protection
UNICEF is supporting it's partners in a quick impact mine awareness campaign targeting 3,800 schools country-wide through direct mine/UXO awareness sessions and the development of teachers' skills in conducting mine awareness education.
A rapid review of the juvenile justice system has been undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Justice.
A pilot rehabilitation programme for children in conflict with the law has been developed.
A pilot programme for reintegration of war-affected youth has also been established.
In Maslakh IDP camp near Herat UNICEF has supported the establishment of a Child Friendly Space which incorporates educational opportunities - including literacy classes for girls - plus recreational activities such as a children's radio station and the development of psychosocial counselling.
Assistance to Refugees and IDPs
In Pakistan and Iran, where the majority of Afghans had sought refuge, UNICEF provided assistance to refugee camps and local host communities in health and nutrition, water and sanitation and education/recreation sectors. These interventions benefited around 250,000 people.
In the Maslakh IDP camp in Herat, UNICEF is supporting more than 30,000 people through basic health services, including immunization and safe delivery provided by UNICEF-supported clinics. In addition, UNICEF supports MSF and MDM clinics with essential drugs and basic medical equipment, including supplies and equipment to the therapeutic and supplementary feeding centres. Support for schools in Maslakh IDP camp, covering 2000 children, includes schools in a box and recreational kits, mattresses and black board/chalk in each class.
Support also for water and toilets facilities near the schools. UNICEF is supporting 302 water points, 2,744 toilets and 750 bathhouses in Maslakh camp. Due to the increase of diarrhoea cases in Maslakh camp, UNICEF has increased provision of Oral Rehydration Therapy.
In southern Afghanistan, UNICEF is supporting the needs of up to 6,000 families who will move to IDP camps around Kandahar. This includes installing ten school tents, to enable the establishment of learning spaces for internally displaced children in Zarey Dasht camp.
School materials including stationery items and classroom materials will be delivered to cater for an estimated 17,000 children coming to classes in a few weeks time. In nearby Mukhtar Helmand camp, school tents have also been supplied and an assessment of education needs is underway in two further IDP camps in the area.
UNICEF has also coordinated the drilling of 71 wells in Zarey Dasht to improve access to clean water. Handpumps for each well have also been installed. UNICEF has also supported the installation of latrines, to protect levels of sanitation and hygiene amongst the camp population.
In the area of health and nutrition, UNICEF has agreed to provide a ration of high energy food supplements and oil to 10,800 children under the age of 5 and 3,000 pregnant mothers in Zarey Dasht, and to 3,917 children and 1,088 pregnant mothers in three other camps in the area.
UNICEF has also supplied cold chain equipment to partner NGO MSF-Holland to assist with polio and measles immunization activities in Zarey Dasht. In Mukhtar Helmand camp, UNICEF has already ensured the vaccination of all 32,700 children between six months and 12 years.
Future Directions
In the longer-term (2002-2004), UNICEF's central strategy in Afghanistan is to enhance the capacity of the interim and transitional administrations and other national partners to:
- ensure the survival of children and
women, especially the most vulnerable;
- rapidly implement recovery and rehabilitation
activities in key sectors of direct benefit to children and women;
- ensure effective management, equitable allocation of budgetary resources, and devolution of responsibility for implementation of humanitarian assistance, rehabilitation activities and service outreach to women and children.
UNICEF
Afghanistan Information / Communication Section
+93 (0) 702 78493
- 93 (0) 702 74729