Attachments
HIGHLIGHTS
• The Deputy Executive Director of the Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations deactivated the Level 2 CEAP for Chad on 30 June 2024.
• A total of 3,197 students had their end of the year final exam in Tongori and Daguessa returnee sites, whom 76% succeeded.
• 122,858 people from the refugee, returnee and host communities were provided with key messages on the prevention of hepatitis E.
• 6,000 people benefited from access to water through the construction of three solar powered systems.
• 6,805 children benefited from severe acute malnutrition treatment, with a cure rate at 93.4%.
• 8,037 beneficiaries including 4,767 children and 3,270 caregivers benefited from mental health and community-based psychosocial support (MHPSS).
FUNDING OVERVIEW AND PARTNERSHIPS
For 2024, UNICEF Chad is requesting US$ 47.1 million to scale up and sustain the provision of lifesaving interventions for 452,596 refugees, returnees and host populations, women, and children in Eastern Chad.
Between January and June 2024, UNICEF Chad received US$ 13.9 million from donors and allocated US$ 300,000 of its Global Humanitarian Thematic Funds to the response. Carry-over funds from the previous year provided an additional US$ 562,541. In total, UNICEF has US$ 14.5 million available so far, representing 31 per cent of the budget needs. UNICEF is grateful for the support received from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), the Government of Japan, the Government of Sweden, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the Government of the United States of America and the United States Funds for UNICEF. UNICEF alerts on the urgent need for additional flexible funds to continue responding to this unprecedented crisis, notably providing water and sanitation emergency response, supporting the reunification of children with their families; ensuring that children can benefit from health services such as immunization, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and the management of severe acute malnutrition; and ensuring that children have access to education.
SITUATION OVERVIEW AND HUMANITARIAN NEEDS
Since the beginning of the conflict in Sudan on 15 April 2023 and as of 28 June 2024, the Commission Nationale d’Accueil de Réinsertion des Réfugiés (CNARR), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have registered 617,013 Sudanese refugees and 128,726 Chadian returnees from Sudan. 63 per cent of the refugees and 66 per cent of the returnees are children under 18. The refugees are arriving in the provinces of Ouaddaï, Sila, Wadi Fira, and Ennedi Est.
According to the Chadian Government, 910,000 refugees and returnees could arrive in Chad by the end of 2024. Chad is already hosting approximately 410,000 Sudanese refugees from the previous Darfur crisis in the same provinces.
As of 28 June 2024, UNHCR has relocated 44 per cent of the refugees from spontaneous sites established at the border to 15 settlements.
On 15 February 2024, the Chadian Government declared a state of food and nutritional emergency throughout the country. The provinces receiving the Sudanese refugees are also among the most affected by food insecurity.
The most recent report on the humanitarian and health crisis in Eastern Chad linked to the influx of refugees and returnees from Sudan states a total of 2,723 suspected cases (1,226 women and 1,497 men) of Hepatitis E, including 11 deaths across seven camps and refugee sites in Ouaddaï province. These figures include 40 pregnant women and three deaths among them. Official reports are missing about suspected Hepatitis E cases notified in June 2024 in Sila province.
Since May 2024, there has been an ongoing measles outbreak in Adré. Out of 39 samples collected from suspected cases, seven were found positive for measles. The cases are among the host population of Adré. No deaths have been reported. The Ministry of Health is getting prepared for a periodic intensification of routine immunization targeting the affected neighborhood.
Due to an increase of petty crime in Adré, since 5 June 2024, a curfew has been established in the town from 10:00 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.
The rainy season started in May. At the end of June, a storm caused significant damage to the Farchana, Guereda, and Touloum refugee camps. Hundreds of refugee and returnee shelters, a water system built by UNICEF and a birth registration center supported by UNICEF were damaged.
On 30 June 2024, the Deputy Executive Director of Humanitarian Action and Supply Operations, Ted Chaiban, deactivated Chad’s Level 2 Corporate Emergency Activation Procedure (CEAP). The L2 CEAP lasted one year. UNICEF Chad, with Headquarters and the Regional Office, has developed an exit strategy outlining the key benchmarks and the actions and mechanisms that will be put in place to ensure that all the capacities are fulfilled to continue assisting both the Sudanese refugees, Chadian returnees and host communities affected by the crisis. The exit strategy emphasizes on programmatic actions favoring sustainability and resilience and applying the triple nexus approach.