Cameroon Humanitarian Situation Report August 2018

UNICEF Cameroon Humanitarian Situation Report August 2018 Cameroon Humanitarian Situation Report SITUATION IN NUMBERS August 2018 Highlights 1,810,000 # of children in need of humanitarian • Despite vigorous efforts by the national and humanitarian actors assistance including UNICEF, the cholera outbreak that emerged in mid-May 3,260,000 # of people in need has recorded 235 cases in the North and Central regions as of 29 (Cameroon Humanitarian Needs Overview 2018) August, an increase of 93 cases since 1 August. Displacement • 16,155 IDPs in the localities of Kolofata and Tolkomari in Mayo Sava 256,000 division received WASH kits. # of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in • In the NW/SW, UNICEF has initiated programs in child protection, North West and South West regions and is preparing to implement programs in WASH, health and (Estimates by OCHA, Aug 2018) 238,099 nutrition. #of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the Far North region (Displacement Tracking Matrix 13, April 2018) 83,141 # of Returnees in the Far North region (Displacement Tracking Matrix 13, April 2018) UNICEF’s Response with Partners 97,817 # of Nigerian Refugees in rural areas (UNHCR Cameroon Fact Sheet, August 2018) Sector UNICEF *Total results are all cumulative Sector Total UNICEF Total 245,126 Target Results* Target Results* # of CAR Refugees in the East, Adamawa WASH: People provided with access and North regions in rural areas 528,000 18,065 75,000 10,754 to appropriate sanitation (UNHCR Cameroon Fact Sheet, August 2018) Education: School-aged children 4-17, including adolescents, accessing 411,000 17,411 280,000 15,469 UNICEF Appeal 2018 education in a safe and protective US$ 25.5 million learning environment. Nutrition: Number of children aged 6- Funding status (US$) 59 months with SAM admitted for 38,646 37,914 40,482 40,384 Funds received: treatment Child Protection: Children reached $3.9M with psychosocial support through 166,791 85,000 64,190 child friendly/safe spaces Carry-over: C4D: Persons reached with Required: $2.1M (8%) information about WASH / health / nutrition / education services $25.5M 235,913 250,913 (behavior/best practices) through community-based social mobilization and/or outreach activities Funding gap : $19.4M (76%) 1 UNICEF Cameroon Humanitarian Situation Report August 2018 Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs The South West region continues to experience large-scale displacements due to ongoing conflict in the English- speaking regions of Cameroon. The updated estimate shared by OCHA indicates that there are now 246,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the region1. While the figure is an estimate and not verified, the total number of IDPs in these two regions has now increased to 256,000; however, there is no valid data for the North-West. To respond to the growing humanitarian needs, UNICEF has started implementing a project in child protection, while preparing to implement projects in health, water and sanitation, and nutritional screening. Communication for Development (C4D) will reinforce these projects through social mobilisation and community engagement. Despite the vigorous efforts by the national and humanitarian actors including UNICEF, the cholera outbreak that emerged in mid-May has recorded 235 cases in the North and Central regions as of 29 August, an increase of 93 cases since 1 August. 163 cases with 16 deaths are reported in eight of 15 health districts in the North region (Bibemi, Garoua II, Gaschiga, Golombe, Guider, Mayo Oulo, Ngong, Pitoa), while Central region recorded 72 cases with one death in three of 30 health districts (Cite-Verte, Djoungolo, Mfou). UNICEF continues to support the response through coordination, preparedness, and prevention activities. 750 Community Health Workers (CHWs) were trained in the North region and conducted awareness raising campaigns in the whole of North region. 250 new IDPs, who fled the insecurity along the border area with Nigeria, such as Zhelevet and Tourou, arrived in Zamai IDP site in August. To respond to the increased needs for sanitation, 30 new emergency latrines have been built by WASH partners (Cameroonian Red Cross in partnership with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and Luxemburg Red Cross). Given the continuous flow of new arrivals in 2018 and now the total population of the site reaching 2,270 people, UNICEF conducted a rapid assessment on 23 August on the water and sanitation situation. The main recommendation was to shift from emergency latrines to household latrines as a more sustainable approach since it is unclear when these IDPs could leave the site. This will be discussed at the next WASH coordination meeting. UNICEF continues to support the IDPs and host community in the domains of health and nutrition by providing nutrition inputs and medicines at Zamai Health Centre, while supporting children with psychosocial support at child friendly spaces through the implementing partner ALDEPA. UNICEF also supported the organization of catch-up course for IDP children from Zamai site to train and prepare 37 children (22 girls and 15 boys) to primary school entry as well as 101 IDP children (40 girls and 61 boys) who dropped out previously to be reintegrated into the formal school system this academic year. It is planned that all children who benefited from this catch-up course will be accommodated by the formal school system in September and will benefit from school supplies. In the East and Adamawa regions, asylum seekers continue to arrive in small numbers. According to the representative of the refugees, the artisanal gold mining sites attract most of the new arrivals without any documentation, and they move from one site to another in search of potentially more profitable mining sites. This situation makes it difficult to estimate or register new arrivals, but community sources estimated that more than 300 asylum seekers have not been documented in Betare Oya, Lom and Djerem division while these figures amount to more than 1,800 in Kadei division, according to the estimates of UNHCR. The application of new targeting approach for beneficiaries for the food distribution by WFP, which began in the seven refugee sites in the East and Adamawa regions in August, was met with reluctance by refugees from the Gado site who rejected the new criteria expressing the view that many vulnerable people are not considered. This rejection by the refugees, although non-violent, led to the suspension of food distributions for a few weeks, until it resumed during the last week of August. 1See Cameroon: Displacement estimates in South-West Region, as of 16 Aug. 2018: https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/cameroon/infographic/cameroon-displacement-estimates-south-west-region-16-aug- 2018 2 UNICEF Cameroon Humanitarian Situation Report August 2018 Estimated Population in Need of Humanitarian Assistance *Cameroon Humanitarian Needs Overview 2018 **SMART Survey 2017 & UNHCR Standardised Expanded Nutrition Survey (SENS) 2016 Start of humanitarian response: November 2013 Total Male Female Total Population in Need* 3,260,000 1,610,000 1,650,000 Children (Under 18)* 1,810,000 915,000 896,000 Children Under Five** 523,000 258,000 265,000 Children 6 to 23 months** 163,000 80,500 82,500 Malnourished Pregnant and 18,000 - 18,000 lactating women** Humanitarian Leadership and Coordination • The Humanitarian/Resident Coordinator leads the overall humanitarian coordination, supported by OCHA. • At the national level, UNICEF and the Government are co-leading the Nutrition, WASH and Education sectors, as well as the sub-sectoral group for Child Protection. • At the field level, UNHCR leads inter-sector coordination, which addresses particularly challenges and gaps both for refugees, IDPs and host communities in the Far North. This extends into the coordination of the humanitarian response to the Central African Republic refugee crisis in the regions of the East and Adamawa. UNHCR organizes monthly meetings with other humanitarian actors, to consolidate data and harmonize interventions. Humanitarian Strategy UNICEF’s integrated programme is based on four pillars: building a protective environment and supporting community peacebuilding; preventing and responding to the violent exploitation of children; increasing access to basic services; and strengthening emergency preparedness and response systems. All four pillars bridge the humanitarian-development nexus and foster community resilience to outside pressures, such as conflict or population displacement, while supporting the State to anticipate and respond to shocks. UNICEF aims at strengthening collaboration between community-based structures and government services to provide care and protection to children, particularly the most marginalized. By supporting community dialogue mechanisms, inter-generational dialogue and non-violent relationships among peers, UNICEF works to foster social cohesion, giving children a voice and rebuilding community linkages. Recognizing that lack of access to basic services exposes children to vulnerabilities, UNICEF supports the Government to strengthen the quality of service delivery at the community level by training community workers and establishing needed infrastructure, improving access to water and sanitation in schools and health centres, developing community health mechanisms and improving the quality of education. Furthermore, UNICEF is working with non- governmental organizations and other partners to implement mechanisms for monitoring

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