The & COVID-19 Global Health Emergency – July 16 Update

Secretary-General Guterres stated, “COVID-19 is the greatest test” since World War II; “it is more than a health crisis. It is a human crisis.” The UN chief released a plan to counter COVID-19, which emphasizes the need for countries to act in concert and outlines ways to suppress transmission of the virus, safeguard people’s lives and their livelihoods, and learn from the crisis to build back.

Provided below is a snapshot of UN efforts overseas to combat COVID-19. This week’s edition includes information on UNRWA-supported health screenings in Palestine refugee camps in Lebanon, UNICEF’s delivery of more than 50 tons of medical equipment to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, DR Congo, and Sudan, and new data that indicates the pandemic may cause hunger to increase by 82 percent in the countries where WFP operates.

This reference document is by no means comprehensive of all the UN’s work; it is meant to illustrate the various ways the “UN Family” confronts a global pandemic, based on both its past actions and new methods. This document will be updated regularly but please reach out if you have any questions. For further background, the United Nations has also developed a resource to monitor the latest updates.

World Food Programme (WFP)

 Working overtime to confront COVID-19, WFP is undertaking its largest-ever humanitarian response, ramping up the number of people it assists to up to 138 million in 2020 from a record 97 million in 2019. New data shows that the number of hungry people in countries where WFP operates could increase to 270 million before the year's end, an 82 percent increase from before the pandemic took hold. The fallout from the pandemic is being felt hardest in Latin America, which has seen an almost three-fold rise in the number of people requiring food assistance. Hunger is also on the rise in West and Central Africa with a 135 percent increase in people experiencing food insecurity, and a 90 percent increase in Southern Africa. In response to the unique challenges of this new face of hunger, over half of WFP’s new response plan will be delivered in cash and vouchers - empowering urban communities to meet their food needs in local markets. WFP is appealing for $4.9 billion over the next six months to accomplish this.

 In Lebanon, WFP will be conducting its first food parcel distribution to Lebanese families, aiming to reach a total of 250,000 people impacted by the economic crisis and the COVID-19 lockdown measures. Currently, 105,000 Lebanese are already receiving food assistance in the form of cash transfers through WFP food e-cards via the government’s National Poverty Targeting Programme.

 WFP has adapted its School Feeding programmes in to provide 59,000 schoolchildren with take-home rations in and around refugee camps. Other COVID-19 prevention measures include providing refugees with two months of food assistance instead of one, and monthly nutrition support for pregnant and nursing women instead of biweekly, to reduce interactions with people outside of their households. With support from the US, WFP provides food and nutrition assistance to 138,000 Burundian and Congolese refugees across Rwanda.

UN Department of Peace Operations (DPO)

 In the , peacekeepers are continuing to support local anti-COVID-19 efforts. The United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) has provided more medical, logistical, and personal protective equipment, including masks, water fountains, and hygiene kits to authorities in the 3rd district in . MINUCSA also financed the construction of a Women's House in Ngoubi, in the Bria Haute-Kotto prefecture. The house aims to provide a space where women can produce soap and provide hand-washing advice to the local population.

1

UN Environment Programme (UNEP)

 The UN Environment Programme, partnering with the International Livestock Research Institute, has issued a new report, Preventing the Next Pandemic: Zoonotic Diseases and How to Break the Chain of Transmission, which considers the root causes of the emergence and spread of COVID-19 and other ‘zoonoses’—diseases that are transmitted between animals and humans. It also offers a set of practical recommendations that can help policymakers prevent and respond to future disease outbreaks.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

 A preliminary assessment of the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 report suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic may add between 83 and 132 million people to the total number of undernourished in the world in 2020 depending on the economic growth scenario.

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

 Major distributions are underway to support vulnerable people across the Americas. In Brazil, IOM delivered 1.5 tons of food for 250 stranded migrants at the borders with Peru and Bolivia. In Colombia, IOM delivered 10,414 non-food items (NFI) kits to migrants and host communities in nine different provinces, while a second tranche of food items and hygiene kits were delivered to 380 refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Chile.

 IOM Somalia continues to raise awareness of COVID-19 among migrants crossing the Photo: IOM. Relocation and assistance for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in Brazil border at seven Flow Monitoring Points continue despite COVID-19. (FMPs). During the week of June 28-July 4, 57 percent of migrants crossing the border reported that they were unaware of COVID-19. In March, that number was 88 percent.

UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)

 Since the beginning of the COVID-19 response, UNHCR has constructed in the Rohingya refugee camps four quarantine facilities (1,915 person capacity) and two large isolation and treatment centers with the capacity of 194 beds, in addition to one Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in the local district hospital in Cox’s Bazar that includes 10 ICU and 8 high-dependency beds and the provision of equipment and a team of medical and nursing staff for six months to address critical COVID cases. UNHCR and our partners have also installed over 56,800 household level handwashing taps in Bangladesh and 13,824 hand washing devices at latrine blocks. UNHCR and partners have also distributed soap rations to 120,000 refugee households and over 23,000 refugee women have received female hygiene kits.

 On June 29, UN chiefs urged sustained support to Syrians on the eve of the fourth Supporting Syria and the Region conference in Brussels as the impact of COVID-19 wreaks havoc on economies and threatens to further destabilize the region. “The COVID-19 crisis has had an immediate and devastating impact on the livelihoods of millions of Syrian refugees and their hosts in the region,” said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. “The most vulnerable in the society—including millions of refugees—have lost their already fragile and

2

meager incomes. They are sliding deeper into poverty and debt. The international community must come together with sustained and predictable support for Syrian refugees and the countries and communities in the region that have generously hosted them for years.” Pledges for both Syria and the region in the amount of $5.5 billion were raised for 2020, as well as $2.2 billion in multi-year pledges. Additionally, international financial institutions and donors announced around $6.7 billion in loans on concessional terms.

United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

 In coordination with UNRWA, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health is carrying out random screenings of 4,000 persons in Palestine refugee camps to measure the nationwide-spread of COVID-19. All UNRWA health centers have been implementing triage to separate patients with respiratory symptoms from those who have other medical concerns (NCD, maternal health, etc.).

UNICEF

 UNICEF has sent more than 50 tons of vital supplies to Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Sudan through a series of Humanitarian Air Bridge flights. The UNICEF cargo included vaccines, medical equipment and other health supplies to support the countries’ health services and help vulnerable children and families. To date, UNICEF has delivered critical life-saving supplies to over 100 countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, despite unprecedented transport and logistical constraints. Supplies have included key personal protective equipment (PPE) items Photo: UNICEF. As Afghanistan grapples with COVID-19, UNICEF flew in emergency health supplies to Kabul, including PPE kits for frontline health workers, who are at high and over 550,000 diagnostic tests. risk of being infected with the virus.

 Members of the Marley family will remaster Bob Marley’s iconic anthem One Love to support UNICEF’s work aimed at re-imagining a fairer, more just world for children whose lives have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Proceeds will help UNICEF provide soap, protective equipment, hygiene kits and life-saving information for children and families,

and support education, protection and healthcare systems.

 UNICEF has launched a global Hand Hygiene for All initiative which aims to emphasize the importance of hand hygiene to prevent COVID-19 and other diseases, and to support the most vulnerable communities with the means to protect their health by ensuring that affordable products and services are available and by enabling a culture of hygiene.

 In Latin America and the Caribbean, nearly 1.4 million students have benefited from distance learning supported by UNICEF. In Chile, a community radio in the rural north is using a digital platform to expand learning opportunities amongst adolescents in collaboration with local teachers. In Mexico, UNICEF is providing technical support to the Government’s home-based learning strategy, indirectly benefiting 19.3 million children.

3