Attachments
Highlight
• ACO HAC is underfunded by 80 per cent with only 3.5 percent of the funds received in 2021.
• 22,225 children aged 6 to 59 months with SAM admitted for treatment in UNICEF-supported nutrition treatment centres.
• 330,038 children aged 6 to 23 months vaccinated against measles/rubella.
• 175,830 caregivers of children aged 0 to 59 months accessing counselling on early detection of malnutrition signs, positive infant and young child feeding and preventative health and hygiene practices
Situation in Numbers
- 848.000 children in need of humanitarian assistance
- 1.6 million people in need
- 97,515 People reached with access to safe water
- 122,935 Children under 5 years screened for malnutrition
Funding Overview and Partnerships
Limited humanitarian funding has significantly impacted UNICEF’s ability to upscale its humanitarian interventions to timely address increasing needs to expand beyond the traditionally chronic areas to new geographical focus. ACO humanitarian interventions are funded by 20 percent of which, only 3.5 per cent accounts for funding received in 2021 with the remainder 17 percent being carry forward from 2020. Major funding contributions to the implementation of UNICEF’s humanitarian action for children (HAC) in 2021, include Banco Fomento de Angola, Government of Japan, USAID-PMR, and GHT. However, critical funding gaps continue for the expand interventions in Cunene, Huila and Namibe. Based on Government reports, nutrition data and WFP report, the situation in Benguela, Huambo, and Cuanza Sul is also deteriorating rapidly. Without adequate humanitarian funding, UNICEF’s ability to provide a full nutritional basket to the most vulnerable children, including women and to implement multisectoral, time-critical and life-saving interventions with nutrition, water, sanitation and sanitation, health, education and child protection, including genderbased violence services is impaired. Currently, ACO has active partnership agreements with CSOs, including World Vision Angola, people in need (PIN) and ADRA, with whom we continue to implement key HAC interventions.
Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs
Angola is experiencing the worst drought in 40 years. Since January 2021, an estimated 3.81 million people have been reported to have insufficient food consumption in the six southern provinces of the country, namely Cunene, Huíla, Namibe, Huambo, Benguela and Cuanza Sul. This figure represents an increase of 138 per cent compared to 1.6 million people who faced food insecurity in 2020. Proxy Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) prevalence rates have increased from 9.8 per cent in 2018 to over 20 per cent in 2021, above emergency thresholds. Severe wasting is increasing in the southern provinces of Huila, Cunene and Namibe with levels reported in 2020 being 55 per cent higher than those in 2018. Admissions to date in Huila, Cunene, Cuando Cubango and Namibe have already surpassed the 2021 Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC) caseload estimate and are expected to reach over 40,000 children in 2021.
Admissions in Huila, Cunene and Namibe for which data is available from 2017 had already reached over 60% of the 2020 caseload by May 2021 (Figure 1 below). Data and reports show that the nutrition situation in Benguela province is also deteriorating, with over 4,000 admissions of children with SAM since January 2021, steadily increasing each month (from 500 in Jan to 1,700 in May.
The drought continues to have negative impact on many sectors. Data collected by UNICEF from provincial education authorities in June 2021 suggest that 8.3% of students in Namibe, 20.1% of students in Huila, and 69.1% of students in Cunene have experienced reduced access to schools due to the drought. In focus group discussions with school communities in Ombadja, Cunene in June 2021, caregivers and teachers consistently noted that the lack of food and access to water made it difficult for many children to attend school.
In addition, COVID-19 imposed restrictions have further impacted livelihoods leading to loss of family income, increased risks of violence, including domestic, gender-based violence while at the same time heightening child protection concerns. the capacity of the health and nutrition services to cope with increased demand for services has been further stretched because of COVID-19. As of 18 July 2021, Angola had reported a cumulative number of 40,906 confirmed cases of COVID-19, with 5,147 (12.6 per cent) active cases and 969 deaths (2.4 per cent). The humanitarian landscape is both complex and requires adequate funding for multisectoral interventions.