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Eritrea

Eritrea End of Year Humanitarian Situation Report: January - December 2017

Attachments

Highlights

  • In 2017, UNICEF Eritrea supported the Government of the State of Eritrea (GoSE) to reach 364,616 children aged 6 to 59 months with Vitamin A supplementation, while 41,701 children with Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) and 15,981 children with Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) were treated.

  • The Country Office (CO) supported the provision of supplementary food to 48,470 persons, including 3,908 pregnant women and 3,139 lactating mothers.

  • A total of 116,214 children were vaccinated for measles.

  • 118,500 people in the Northern Red Sea, Debub and Anseba regions received hygiene education messages through the trained hygiene promoters. Additionally, 79 communities were supported to access safe sanitation.

  • UNICEF Eritrea provided integrated mine risk education to 395 school teachers (32% female) and 90,000 school children (49% female) were reached in affected areas, and 5000 landmine survivors and children living with disabilities provided with psycho-social support.

  • More than 7500 children from nomadic communities accessed basic education.

  • UNICEF Eritrea helped to develop an Education in Emergencies policy to ensure preparedness of schools, and provided fire safety equipment for 300 schools to benefit over 90,000 children.

Situation in Numbers

553,000 total people to be reached in 2017 (HAC 2017)

477,000 total children to be reached in 2017 (HAC 2017)

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

Like other countries in the Horn of Africa, Eritrea is negatively affected by the adverse climatic conditions prevalent in the region. The continuing cyclical nature of drought and flooding left many communities at risk, impaired their ability to recover, and stretched their resilience and coping mechanisms.

The total number of children targeted for humanitarian interventions in 2017 were 477,000. Waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea exacerbates the cases of moderate and severe acute malnutrition among children. Field monitoring reports indicate that malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies among children, poor sanitation and water coverage, and the presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW) in certain areas are the primary humanitarian issues. Children continue to be the primary victims of ERW in affected areas, as they play and go about their activities. Up to 22,700 children under-5 were projected to be at risk of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in 2017; According to EPHS 2010 data, half of Eritrean children under-5 are stunted. It is hoped that the planned EPHS for early 2018 will provide updated figures. The lack of new data remained a major challenge for accurate assessments of the situation of children and women in Eritrea.