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Djibouti + 4 more

UNICEF Djibouti Humanitarian Situation Report, June 2018

Attachments

HIGHLIGHTS

• In response to the cyclone Sagar in May, UNICEF distributed Immediate Response WASH and dignity kits benefitting 700 affected households (including IDPs and surrounding host community) in Damerjog, an IDP site located just outside Djibouti;

• Over the reporting period, 842 people in drought affected areas gained access to adequate sanitation;

• UNICEF provided supplies (antibiotics, oral rehydration salts, and zinc) benefiting an estimated 5,854 children to address the increased caseload of pneumonia and diarrhoea linked with deteriorating community-based health services (reduced community-based prevention, detection and treatment of child illnesses in favour of secondary and tertiary care).

• UNICEF and the Red Crescent of Djibouti conducted a large-scale hygiene promotion campaign with more than 25,000 people being reached on handwashing and household water treatment practices through multiple channels (SMS, face-to-face).

• An estimated 4,500 refugee and migrant children were enrolled in the Read, Write and Count (RWC) second-chance education.

SITUATION IN NUMBERS

June 2018

134,000 # of children affected out of 244,920 # of people affected (OCHA, January 2018)

13,330 #of children affected out of 27,431 # of refugees and asylum seekers (UNHCR, June 2018)

5,119 # of refugees and asylum seekers in Djibouti-city (UNHCR, October 2017)

UNICEF Appeal 2018: US$ 1.641 million
Funding Status: US $ 1,733 million

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

Djibouti is a country of 992,637 population with 27,431 refugees (UNHCR database June 2018). One of the main drivers of humanitarian needs in Djibouti is the chronic drought which affects almost 200,000 people in 2018 (FEWSNET 2017), including 20,000 children under the age of five compared to 130,000 people affected in 2016. The impact of drought is aggravated by additional pressures on already overstretched basic social services by asylum seekers (from Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia and recently Yemen) and migrants mostly coming from Ethiopia, Somalia and transiting through Djibouti to the Gulf countries via Yemen. The prolonged drought contributes to high prevalence of acute malnutrition, diarrheal diseases and other infectious diseases.

In May 2018, the tropical cyclone Sagar hit Djibouti causing floods in at least 15 per cent of Djibouti city. The cyclone has exacerbated fragile basic social service systems, causing damage to an estimated 10,000 households (about 150,000 people) with about 2,000 households (10,000 people) severely hit. The major concerns among affected populations focused on access to sanitation, given the damage caused to the city’s poorly designed sanitation system, reduced access to safe drinking water for the most disadvantaged families, including migrants, refugees and internally displaced people (in particular from the Damerjog area close to Djibouti City) and increased fragility of poor households in terms of food scarcity and lack of access to hygiene items. The schools and other social infrastructure have been affected with the total damage estimated at USD30 million (as per the World Bank assessment). UNICEF and other aid agencies upon a rapid assessment of the immediate needs of the affected populations, succeeded in mobilizing about $3 million to respond, with $1.296 million to be managed by UNICEF DCO.