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Djibouti

Humanitarian Action for Children 2015: Djibouti

Attachments

Despite slightly better rainfall at the end of 2014, seven years of drought have put Djibouti’s population under severe stress. Child survival in Djibouti remains at risk due to food insecurity, inadequate care practices, constrained basic social services and a proliferation of communicable diseases including malaria and measles. In December 2013, 17.8 per cent of children under-five suffered from wasting and 5.7 per cent were severely acutely malnourished – largely exceeding WHO emergency thresholds of 15 and 2 per cent respectively. A survey in November 2014 conducted in the severely affected Obock region revealed a worrying increase of wasting rates from 25.7 to 29.9 per cent. In urban areas, thousands of families displaced by drought live in illegal settlements deprived of basic water and sanitation facilities, while in rural areas three out of five people need to walk over half an hour to reach a water source. Approximately two out of five girls and boys live in extreme poverty, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse . Nearly 41.6 per cent of girls and 33.3 per cent of boys aged 6-10 are out-of-school – the majority being migrants, nomads and disabled children. Discrimination and a lack of awareness hinder efforts to reduce HIV prevalence and AIDS; there is a generalized epidemic of HIV in Djibouti and young people are particularly vulnerable. Djibouti is a transit point for 100,000 vulnerable migrants trying to cross to Yemen and Gulf countries; in November 2014, children accounted for 32 per cent of the population registered in IOM’s Centre for Migrants Support. Many migrant children end up begging in the streets. With the protracted conflict in neighbouring Somalia, Djibouti hosts 27,500 refugees and asylum seekers out of which 70 per cent are women and children who depend entirely on humanitarian assistance and protection services.

  • Total affected population: 380,000

  • Total affected children (under 18): 152,000

  • Total people to be reached in 2015: 260,750

  • Total children to be reached in 2015: 105,400

2015 Programme Targets

Nutrition

  • 5,250 children aged under-5 years with SAM admitted to therapeutic care treated
  • 61,800 children aged under-5 years benefit from micronutrient supplementation
  • 60,220 children aged 6 to 36 months admitted to blanket feeding programmes
  • 43,650 pregnant and lactating women access support for appropriate infant and young child feeding and micronutrient supplements

Health

  • 25,000 women and children aged under 5 years receive insecticide treated bed nets
  • 90,000 children under 5 receive deworming medication
  • 100,000 children aged 6 to 59 months receive vitamin-A supplementation

WASH

  • 52,000 emergency-affected people provided with access to safe water as per agreed standards
  • 68,000 emergency-affected people receive critical WASH related information to prevent child illness

Child Protection

  • 154 migrant children and children living on the streets benefit from a basic social services package
  • 5,000 unaccompanied minors benefit from risk awareness activities
  • 20% children in Ali-Addeh refugee camp benefit from a pilot programme of psycho-social support

Education

  • 4,000 refugee and vulnerable children enrolled in primary school education or non-formal education and 400 in secondary education

HIV and AIDS

  • 500 adolescents and youth (mainly out-of-school) from refugee populations benefit from life skills training and HIV prevention