CERF has allocated $11 million to Afghanistan for its underfunded humanitarian projects
25 March 2010: The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will receive $5 million for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) programme for approximately 117,000 people, and emergency nutrition assistance for over 431,000 children and pregnant and lactating women. Also, the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) will receive $3 million to provide quality wheat seeds and fertilizer to 14,400 vulnerable and food insecure farmers. Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have been allocated $2.7 million and $293,000 respectively for emergency health intervention and outbreak response and control for 50,000 vulnerable people living in conflict and remote areas without access to essential health care.
The humanitarian situation in Afghanistan has been unstable due to multiple factors: escalating conflict and insecurity; impunity for human rights abuses and criminal activities; extreme poverty and underdevelopment; high rate of infant, under-five children, and maternal mortality rate; high global food prices; displacement induced by conflict, drought, poverty, and the forced return of some refugees, and contamination by mines and explosive remnants of war (ERW).
Despite almost nine years of international investment and support to the Afghan government, the country’s indicators continue to rank near the bottom of the world list. The majority of the population are vulnerable and increasingly so as the conflict has worsened throughout the course of 2009, creating new waves of displacement and/or suffering for people already living in precarious circumstances.
[Last updated: 8 April 2010]