Cameroon ECHO FACTSHEET

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Facts & Figures

. hosts approximately 331 000 refugees: 259 000 from and 72 000 from (UNHCR, IOM)

. There are 139 000 internally displaced persons due to conflict, and 30 600 000 internally displaced persons due to natural hazards (UNHCR/IOM)

. 200 000 children are at risk of malnutrition including 66 000 exposed to 53% of all refugees who arrived from Central African Republic in 2014 live outside the camps, among local Severe Acute communities ©EC/ECHO/Thomas Dehermann-Roy Malnutrition. (SMART)

. 1.9 million people at risk of food Key messages insecurity with 1.4 located in the Far North (OCHA)  Cameroon is currently hosting almost 331 000 refugees in total. Some 72 000 are Nigerians*, seeking asylum in the Far of Cameroon. The Funding remaining refugees are from the Central African Republic (CAR)*. The situation constitutes a huge challenge for local administrations and communities, European Commission making it critical to provide emergency aid to meet basic needs. humanitarian funding:  Asymmetric attacks from the (or Islamic State in West Africa) have € 11 million in 2016 increased since July 2015 and have caused the internal displacement of (initial allocation) around 139 000 Cameroonians who have fled the unsafe areas at the border with Nigeria. Floods have displaced an additional 30 600 people. The € 25.2 million in 2015 humanitarian response is hampered by the deteriorating security conditions in the Far North, which is reducing access for humanitarian organisations.  In the Far North Region, the number of people in need of immediate food

Humanitarian Aid and assistance has tripled since June 2015 and is now 200 000 people, according Civil Protection to UN OCHA. Severe Acute Malnutrition levels exceed the 2% emergency threshold. B-1049 Brussels, Belgium  The European Commission has substantially expanded its humanitarian support Tel.: (+32 2) 295 44 00 Fax: (+32 2) 295 45 72 to the affected areas. The €4 million initial allocation for Cameroun at the start of email: 2015 was increased to adapt to existing needs. By the end of 2015, the total [email protected] contribution for Cameroon had been increased to €25.2 million. These Website: funds were targeted to populations affected by the Boko Haram violence, to http://ec.europa.eu/echo mitigate the impact of El Nino and to CAR refugees. In 2016, the initial funds allocated to humanitarian aid in Cameroon are €11 million.  EU funding provides emergency assistance to IDPs, refugees and host populations in terms of shelter, food, safe drinking water and sanitation, primary healthcare and child protection. It also helps address acute food and nutrition insecurity of the most vulnerable population.

ECHO Factsheet – Cameroon – April 2016 Page 1 of 3

Humanitarian situation and needs

Out of the 259 000 refugees from CAR*, 131 000 refugees have arrived in Cameroon since December 2013 and live in the East, Adamaoua and North Regions. Only half of them are located in the seven dedicated sites set up by UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency. The remaining half is staying in villages. Before these arrivals, there were already around 100 500 refugees from the CAR in the country, bringing the total figure of Central African refugees in Cameroon to 259 000. In addition, the year 2015 saw a dramatic increase in the number of Nigerian* refugees who have fled Boko Haram violence and are now present in the Far North Region of Cameroon. By February 2016, UNHCR had pre-registered approximately 72 000, out of which 56 210 are located in the Minawao camp. According to the IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), conducted in February 2016, approximately 8 000 unregistered refugees are located outside the camp with no protection or assistance. According to the same source, the number of Internally Displaced Persons is estimated to be 170 000, out of which 139 000 are displaced because of the conflict and the rest due to disasters triggered by natural hazards. Most Nigerian refugees live in Minawao camp, which has largely exceeded its capacity and has a very serious problem of water availability (over 60% of the water needs are covered by water trucking) as well as shelter, latrines and showers. Thanks to a preventive vaccination campaign held in Minawao, no case of cholera was recorded in the site hosting the refugees, whereas 16 cases were declared in nearby districts. Moreover, a measles outbreak is also affecting 12 out of the 30 districts within the Far North Region. Reduced access for humanitarian organisations due to insecurity makes it difficult to gather reliable data on the humanitarian situation outside the Minawao refugee camp. Nearly 80% of the population in the Far North is either poor or very poor, with limited access to basic services and essential food commodities. Even prior to the Boko Haram crisis, the Far North Region was already suffering from structural malnutrition among children under age five, with alarming rates recorded in 2013. Since 2014, the insecurity has further increased the effects of these structural weaknesses, leading to a deterioration of nutritional status of children. Preliminary results of the SMART nutrition survey conducted in October 2015 indicate 14% of Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in the Far North Region, very close to the World Health Organization threshold requiring immediate intervention at 15%. Results also show 2.2% of Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), exceeding the WHO emergency threshold (2%). In the Far North of Cameroon, the number of people in need of immediate food assistance has tripled since June 2015 and is now 200 000 people, according to OCHA. Host communities are also suffering from the sudden influx and presence of IDPs and refugees. The latest World Food Programme Emergency Food Security Assessment (September 2015) for instance demonstrates that 35.5% of households – i.e. one household out of five - is food insecure in the Far North Region.

The European Union's humanitarian response

In 2015, the European Commission allocated € 25.2 million in response to emergencies, both in the eastern and northern part of the country, including € 3 million for assistance to CAR refugees and € 5 million to address the impact of El Nino. The humanitarian response in Eastern Cameroon along 2015 focused on assisting refugees from CAR and host communities to cover their needs in terms of food, health and nutrition, access to water and sanitation, protection, shelter and Non-Food Items, both in refugee sites and off-sites. In the Far North Region, emergency assistance was provided to populations affected by the Boko Haram violence - Nigerian refugees, IDPs and host communities - mainly in terms of protection, food, access to water and sanitation, healthcare and emergency education. In addition, this funding helped respond to the deterioration of the nutritional situation in the Far North. It helped adapt the previous prevention and treatment of under-nutrition programmes to the current emergency and link them with the provision of primary health care to populations affected by the conflict outside the refugee camp. In 2016, € 11 million have been allocated to the initial humanitarian response in Cameroon, which will be used to maintain the humanitarian response to refugees from CAR and Nigeria, to IDPs and to vulnerable host communities.

*All the latest ECHO Factsheets: bit.ly/echo-fs ECHO Factsheet –Cameroon – April 2016

The European Commission has provided humanitarian aid funding in response to the various refugee crises, floods and epidemics which have affected Cameroon over the past decade. For greater efficiency in the response and an increased regional overview and strategy, the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department (ECHO) has set up a regional office in Yaounde in September 2015 covering operations in CAR, Cameroon, and Nigeria.

Examples of humanitarian projects in Cameroon

Regularly confronted with nutritional crises, epidemics and natural disasters, people in the Far North Region of Cameroon are among the most vulnerable in this country. To alleviate this alarming situation, the European Commission has enabled better care for severely malnourished children under 5 years old as well as victims of floods, malaria and cholera outbreaks. In partnership with the Cameroonian Red Cross, the French Red Cross has supported five health districts in the quality care improvement and established 4 therapeutic nutrition centres, in addition to 55 feeding centres intended to outpatients. Furthermore, capacity building programmes have been implemented to reinforce the ability of health staff to provide appropriate care. ©Croix Rouge

Thousands of children who suffer from severe acute malnutrition, like Mainiba (pictured), are receiving appropriate care in the five health districts covered by the International Medical Corps (IMC) in the Far North Region, an EU supported project. However, access to the health facilities is still difficult for populations living far from the urban centres. To overcome this challenge, community volunteers have been trained to screen and refer undernourished children to the closest centres. The persons who care for children needing specialised healthcare are provided with money for both transportation and food during their stay at the hospital's stabilisation centre. ©EC/ECHO

Some 267 000 refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) continue to live in the east Adamaoua and North regions of Cameroon. Families fleeing violence in CAR in 2014 travelled all the way from Bangui, in buses or trucks, while others left their villages on foot. Tens of thousands of people were left to fend for themselves. The European Commission has been supporting different partner organisations in order to provide refugees with food, nutrition care, protection, shelter and non-food items.

©EC/ECHO/Thomas Dehermann-Roy

*All the latest ECHO Factsheets: bit.ly/echo-fs ECHO Factsheet –Cameroon – April 2016