Source: ActionAid

Date: 29 Dec 2008

Monday, 29 December 2008: With the World Health Organisation confirming that deaths from cholera in Zimbabwe have now reached 1,500, ActionAid warns that these figures can only increase as the country’s rainy season progresses.

Jane Moyo, ActionAid spokeswoman said: With the rainy season already begun, the cholera hazard will inevitably increase as refuse and sewage are washed into watercourses. It is vital that large scale clean-up operations start right away in urban areas and that cholera prevention programmes are scaled up across the country.

All aid agencies operating in Zimbabwe are using a one-page cholera alert leaflet and poster with agreed wording, which is available in English and the national languages of Ndebele and Shona.

In Harare ActionAid has given training in basic cholera prevention and hygiene to eight partner organizations, which together cover most of the high-density residential areas. They have been spreading simple messages about safe water, hand-washing, food preparation, toilets and what to do when someone shows symptoms of cholera.

ActionAid has also funded the distribution of water purifying tablets to 3,125 households out of a planned 25,000. Hygiene kits consisting of soap, cotton wool and a jerry can have been given to 1,000 households. Funds are urgently needed to supply hygiene kits to a further 5,000 households.

ActionAid is piloting a series of voluntary cleanup operations in urban areas, but these need to be increased in order to speed up the eradication of cholera.

ENDS

contact Jane Moyo, ActionAid UK on 07734 023347 (UK cell phone)

ActionAid, Hamlyn House, Macdonald Road, London N19 5PG

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Date: 23 Dec 2008

Humanitarian concern remains intense about thousands today living in North Kivu, both people in their homes and people forced by the fighting to flee.

Many families still lack food, water, shelter and other essential items. But for the humanitarian organizations trying to help them, access depends on security conditions on the ground.

General situation

Sporadic clashes have occurred between armed groups in the Masisi territory. In Grand Nord there have been reports of the local population suffering banditry.

Restoring family links

In North and South Kivu, a tracing campaign was launched in early December jointly by the ICRC and the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The campaign, which is being helped by five local radio stations, has so far enabled 24 children to be reunited with their families.

Red Cross tracing services have started 15 new enquiries aimed at finding the families of unaccompanied children. Since early November, 169 minors separated from their families have been identified and registered.

In all, 61 volunteers from the Congo-Kinshasa Red Cross have recently attended ICRC-supported courses in Goma, Rutshuru, Masisi, Beni and Kirumba. They learned skills needed to restore family links and deal with disasters.

Protection and assistance for detainees

The ICRC continued assessing conditions of detention at Goma prison. The prison administration has received from the ICRC 14 cubic metres of firewood to meet the detainees needs for two weeks.

Drinking water

In recent weeks, some 80,000 litres of drinking water a day have been distributed in the two Kibati camps, today housing over 50,000 displaced people.

In Sake, the ICRC continued work to repair and upgrade the water-supply system in order to furnish drinking water for the town’s 30,000 inhabitants and the many displaced persons living there.

In Vitshumbi, an emergency water-supply unit installed by the ICRC and run by the Congo-Kinshasa Red Cross continues to produce 70,000 litres of drinking water per day, thus helping to prevent water-borne diseases among the 12,000 inhabitants and displaced persons living in the area. Engineers continued construction of a water-supply network for the town in order to meet the needs of its 25,000 inhabitants.

In Bulambo, near Butembo, the ICRC has continued work to build nine water-supply stations to expand the network set up there earlier in the year.

Surgery and public health

The ICRC surgical team carried on its work at Katindo military hospital. Hygienic conditions were ensured through the efforts of local Red Cross volunteers. About two dozen patients have been operated on by the surgical team in the past two weeks in the Rutshuru area, where the organization is supporting a medical facility.

The ICRC has continued to support Minova general hospital and the health-care centre in Bobandana, so that displaced persons can receive free treatment.

Four health-care centres in areas hosting displaced people between Beni and Kanyabayonga have received basic medicines from the ICRC.

Relief and other aid

Sake, Bweremana and Minova (30 - 45 km west of Goma)

Since 8 December, some 55,000 inhabitants and displaced people in the villages of Kirotshe, Kihindo, Shasha, Sake and Bweremana have received food supplies for one month. This operation is being carried out by the ICRC with support from volunteers of the Congo-Kinshasa Red Cross and is being coordinated with the World Food Programme. Tarpaulins and other essential items have been distributed to about 3,000 displaced people.

In the Minova area and the Bulenga peninsula, almost 11,000 displaced people have received food aid. The rations of maize flour, legumes, salt and vegetable oil are enough to meet their needs for one month. The ICRC and the Congo-Kinshasa Red Cross have also distributed jerrycans and clothing to the displaced people.

A distribution of seed and tools to some 1,200 families is being planned for January to help civilians affected by the fighting resume farming.

Rutshuru

The ICRC has continued preparing a distribution of seed, tools and food to some 7,000 families (inhabitants and displaced people) in the Rutshuru area.

Beni-Kanyabayonga (150 km north of Goma)

With ICRC support, the Congo-Kinshasa Red Cross has completed a distribution of essential items to some 500 displaced families in Butembo and area.

The ICRC has prepared a distribution of food and other essential items for over 6,700 families (inhabitants and displaced people) in the Kirumba area of southern Lubero.

Counselling centres

The ICRC has been supporting the work of four psychological and social counselling centres in Kibati and Mugunga camps for victims of sexual violence.

Promoting international humanitarian law

In Goma, 94 representatives of the provincial government and civil society attended a presentation on international humanitarian law.

In Beni and Butembo, traditional leaders and 136 representatives of the national police attended presentations on the basic rules of humanitarian law.

For further information, please contact:

Olga Miltcheva, ICRC Goma, tel. +243 81 036 812

Marçal Izard, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 24 58 or +41 79 217 32 24

Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Date: 21 Dec 2008

HIGH LIGHTS:

• No new cases of Acute Watery Diarrhea (AWD) reported for the last five weeks, but prevention interventions remain paramount to prevent another outbreak.

• The Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit (ENCU) report, a total of 1,256 new admissions to Therapeutic Feeding Centers in SNNPR, Amhara, Somali, and Tigray Regions, during the reporting week.

I. GENERAL SITUATION:

a) Political, social, security overview for the week

- The overall security situation in the country remained stable during this week. No major security incidents involving humanitarian staff members have been reported.

b) Main events of interest/ concern for health (displacements, conflicts, disease outbreaks, etc.)

Food insecurity and malnutrition situation.

- According to WFP, the prospect for harvests in the eastern part of the country seems below normal while that of the western part is generally good. The multi-agency pre-harvest and food aid needs assessment mission reported that a significant production loss has occurred in woredas of East and West Hararghie and Dire Dawa administration. Crop losses due to drought in Jijiga zone is the worst since 2006. Monitoring reports indicate that the food security situation in Warder, East Imey and Degehabur woredas of Somali region is deteriorating with the prevalence of high malnutrition and AWD. In East Imey woreda and Fik zone consumption of wild fruits as coping mechanism by the poor was observed. Prevalence of high severe malnutrition cases were also reported in some woredas of Afar and Tigray.

- The harvest of meher and long season crops is nearing completion in most lowland cropping areas of the country and beginning in the midland cropping areas. The supply of food crops (wheat, maize and teff) to the local markets has increased. Prices of food crops are decreasing up to 36 percent in some areas compared to last month; livestock price has remained unchanged.

- There is concern on the availability of water and adequate pasture in arid areas of Somali, Afar, Tigray and Oromiya regions should the belg rains come late. The volume of water in some ponds has started diminishing and some communities might encounter water shortage.

- According to preliminary report of field assessment, there are different risk factors for the future epidemic out breaks have been identified in SNNPR. These are mainly the risks for malaria, AWD and Typhoid fever. In addition to health treats related communicable diseases, health problems linked to malnutrition are still a big concern for some zones of the region.