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Uganda + 3 more

Humanitarian Action for Children 2018 - Uganda

Attachments

Total people in need: 2.3 million

Total children (<18) in need: 1.5 million

Total people to be reached: 1.6 million

Total children to be reached: 983,000 million

One million South Sudanese refugees are now living in Uganda, as are 300,000 refugees from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other countries in the region. Sixty-one per cent of all refugees in Uganda are children. By the end of 2018, the refugee population in Uganda may grow to over 1.8 million. Basic services in refugeehosting districts are overstretched, compromising the quality of services for both refugees and host communities. Sanitation coverage among refugees remains below 40 per cent. While half of all refugees are school-aged children, only 35 per cent of refugee children aged 3 to 5 years are enrolled in pre-primary school. The global acute malnutrition rate for new arrivals in refugee settlements is critically high at 14.9-21.5 per cent, and in the Karamoja region, global acute malnutrition increased from 11 per cent in June 2016 to 13.8 per cent in June 2017. A severe recent outbreak of Marburg virus disease was contained by the Ministry of Health. Children are also vulnerable to outbreaks of measles, malaria and cholera, as well as exposure to floods and landslides. Access to safe water may be limited for up to 650,000 people affected by multiple shocks in 2018.

Humanitarian strategy

UNICEF will support the Government of Uganda to incorporate emergency preparedness and response into its multi-year development plans, particularly in refugeehosting districts. UNICEF and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will implement a long-term refugee and host communities’ empowerment strategy, in line with the Government’s Settlement Transformation Agenda, the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework and the Grand Bargain commitments. Technical guidance, equipment and supplies will be provided in priority emergency districts to support the expansion of routine social services. Support to national education and health strategies will link ongoing development programming with the humanitarian refugee response. Technical advice will be provided to support the scale up of child-sensitive social protection services for both refugees and host communities. UNICEF will employ a systemsstrengthening approach and build the capacities of communities in districts affected by natural hazards to facilitate effective adaptation and response to threats. Support for government-led emergency preparedness and response will continue to mitigate the effects of disease outbreaks. Additional emergency response capacity will be provided through an emergency standby partnership with the Uganda Red Cross Society. UNICEF will innovate to improve efficiency, including by using m-Trac, a mobile application, to send urgent information to health workers.