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ECHO Factsheet – Chad – June 2019

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Chad
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ECHO
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Introduction

Chad is one of the poorest countries in the world. A critical food and nutrition situation, and forced displacement, from outside Chad and from within the country itself, give rise to numerous humanitarian needs in Chad. EU humanitarian aid provides food assistance, life-saving nutritional treatment for undernourished children, as well as basic services such as healthcare and protection for internally displaced people, refugees, and host communities.

What are the needs?

Chad faces complex and interlinked humanitarian crises: food and nutrition insecurity, forced displacement, natural disasters (including drought), and epidemics. As a result, 4.3 million people in Chad are in need of humanitarian assistance, equivalent to 27% of the population.

An estimated 3.9 million people in Chad are struggling to obtain enough food, of whom 640,000 are in need of life-saving food support during the season in-between harvests, when food reserves are depleted. Results of the national nutrition survey show that 4% of children under the age of 5 suffer from severe acute malnutrition, the most serious form of undernourishment in children. The health situation is critical for 2.1 million people who have no access to basic health services.

Due to recent heavy rains, numerous floods were reported in several towns and villages. More than 30,000 households have been affected. The measles epidemic, declared on 30 May 2018, has continued to spread, with cases registered in 119 out of 126 districts.

Violence and conflict in neighbouring countries have led to an influx of refugees and asylum-seekers (468,000 from the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Nigeria). However, as one of the poorest countries in the world, Chad's capacity to provide assistance is rather limited. Since the beginning of the year 2019, at least 40,000 additional people have been forced to flee their villages to avoid being killed or abused by armed groups.

How are we helping?

The European Union is one of the main humanitarian aid donors in Chad. Since 2013, the EU has provided €349.3 million to support vulnerable people in Chad affected by the various humanitarian crises.

In 2019, the EU is providing €27.2 million in humanitarian aid to Chad in respond to the basic needs of internally displaced people, refugees and host communities, such as shelter, food, healthcare, water, sanitation, education, and protection.

The EU and its humanitarian partners also support agricultural activities in eastern and southern Chad to promote refugees’ self-reliance and livelihoods. In addition, projects are in place to ease the integration of Chadian returnees, and Central African and Sudanese refugees into local communities.

EU humanitarian funding also supports the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS), which helps aid organisations reach refugees and internally displaced people located in remote or hard-to-reach areas.