by Kevin Cook - World Vision International
Communications
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN. 29 Nov. - World
Vision is collaborating with UN agencies here in planned deliveries of
emergency food assistance to acutely malnourished Afghans in areas of western
Afghanistan that have been hardest-hit by conflict and drought.
One of the agencies, UNICEF, estimates that up to 100,000 Afghan children could die during Afghanistan's fast approaching and bitterly cold winter unless essential relief supplies are made available in the next few weeks. Epidemic diseases spreading through Afghan refugee camps in western Afghanistan have already claimed the lives of hundreds of children in the past few weeks, according to UNICEF.
But the delivery of relief aid remains a major challenge due to high insecurity on roads across Afghanistan's eastern border from Pakistan, and throughout the country itself.
"We're fighting the clock now," said World Vision Food Programmes Consultant Tom Fellows in Islamabad. "Everything is contingent on security and the re-opening of the food pipelines which are still closed because of the continued fighting and volatile situation inside Afghanistan. Hopefully the progress made at the Bonn Summit will lead to the opening of secure land corridors for the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance."
In partnership with UNICEF, World Vision also expects to deliver food rations to acutely malnourished children, pregnant and lactating women in the four provinces of western Afghanistan -- Badghis, Ghore, Herat and Farah - where a total of 1.36 million people are classified as acutely malnourished and most vulnerable to starvation and disease (UNICEF, Aug. 2001).
As soon as local security conditions permit, blanket feeding (100% coverage) should target these groups in the worst-affected provinces of Badghis and Ghore over a three-month period. Food rations will also be provided to acutely malnourished families in Herat and Farah.
An agreement has also been signed with WFP for the immediate delivery (security permitting) of 3,000 metric tonnes of wheat -- 50 kg. per family - covering the entire population of Herat city over a one-month period. The food aid should be a catalyst for the return and resettlement of many Afghans displaced from the city by conflict and drought.
Discussions are also underway with WFP and HABITAT for the establishment of a food-for-work programme in Herat city that will generate new employment opportunities by engaging beneficiaries in the repair and reconstruction of health facilities, schools, community buildings and other infrastructure, possibly as early as January 2002.
In cooperation with WFP, further food distributions totalling at least 2,300 metric tonnes are currently planned to cover the most vulnerable districts of the Ghore and Farah provinces from January to June next year, security permitting.
"The immediate priority is obviously to deliver food and save lives, but we also want to develop quality in-depth programmes that will put the Afghan population on a path to full recovery," said Robyn Kennedy, Pakistan Programme Manager. "I think that will be our larger challenge over the long run - the effort to restore people's health and well-being, after they have had to endure so much suffering and loss."