Attachments
Highlights
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As part of the COVAX facility, the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccine doses were delivered to Syria, with 203,000 doses via Damascus, and 53,800 via Gaziantep to Northwest Syria. These were allocated to frontline health workers, including in the northeast and northwest.
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A fire at the sub-station which provides electricity to Alouk Water Station on 12 April disrupted access to water for two weeks, affecting one million people, including 70,000 people in Al-Hol and other camps and settlements in the area. This was the second water cut in 2021 and the twenty-third since October 2019. In response, WASH Sector partners, trucked up to 3,231m3 of water a day, though this was far lower than the 4,000m3/hour capacity of the water station.
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UNICEF marked International Mine Awareness Day on 4 April with partners through mass media, SMS messages and face-to-face interventions. Life-saving messages reached 85,287 children (45,454 girls) and 7,086 caregivers (3,390 women), including people in northwest and northeast Syria, bringing the total reached this year to 316,408 children and caregivers.
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UNICEF has received to date only 27 per cent of the funds required to meet the urgent humanitarian needs of 4.8 million children in 2021.
Situation in Numbers*
4,800,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance
11,100,000 people in need
6,183,919 Internally displaced people (IDPs)
490,000 Children in need in hard-toreach areas (source: OCHA, Humanitarian Response Plan, 2020)
* Please note that these numbers reflect the estimates in the 2020 HAC. The latest estimates released in the 2021 Needs and Response Summary will be reflected in the 2021 Humanitarian Response Plan under revision, and subsequently in the UNICEF HAC and included on the front of the sitrep.
Funding Overview and Partnerships
In 2021, UNICEF requires US$330.8 million to provide life-saving assistance to 9.1 million people (including 5.5 million children) across Syria according the Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC). Of the total funding requirement, US$88,458,986 is available, leaving a gap of 73 per cent. The HAC is being reviewed as part of the Humanitarian Response Planning for 2021.
As of January 2021, 13.4 million people are estimated to require some form of humanitarian and protection assistance, including 6.08 million children. This is a 25 per cent increase compared to 2020 (4.8 million children in need, as included in the 2020 HAC). UNICEF and humanitarian partners in Syria require sustained support to maintain critical life-saving services, especially amidst the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Particularly critical gaps include funds required to protect the most vulnerable children through psychosocial support, case management and explosive ordnance risk education. Funding is also urgently needed for preventative and curative nutrition services as well as social protection and cash assistance to reduce the extreme vulnerabilities facing children due to rapidly increasing food prices and the deteriorating economic situation of families.
This year, the Governments of Belgium, Canada, ECHO, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Norway, Russia, Spain Sweden, Switzerland and United States, as well as Syria Humanitarian Fund and UNICEF national committees have generously contributed to the UNICEF humanitarian response across Syria. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all public and private partners for the contributions received.