Wednesday, January 28, 2009

The forgotten ones

"Arsenault drew attention to forgotten emergencies, such as in the West African republic of Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR). "They seem to have slipped off everyone's radar, and fund raising can be difficult at times."

Armed conflict and increased banditry since 2005 have displaced great numbers of people both inside and outside CAR - around 108,000 Central African refugees now live in neighbouring countries, mainly Cameroon and Chad, affecting the humanitarian situation in the region.

Since the conflict only one-third of CAR's children go to school. UNICEF has been involved in providing nutritional interventions and efforts to bring 150,000 children back to school.

Chad has been overwhelmed by a massive influx of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Darfur and CAR. UNICEF has asked for more than $34 million for its interventions in Chad in 2009 to help meet the needs of approximately 750,000 people, including 360,000 children living in eastern and southern Chad.

The money will be used to assist 310,000 refugees, over 180,000 internally displaced persons, and about 250,000 of the host population, as well as to tackle Chad's national acute malnutrition rate of 15 percent, which includes some regions where levels reach 20 percent. "

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=82605

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