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UNICEF Yemen Humanitarian Situation Report reporting period 1-31 August 2020 [EN/AR]

Countries
Yemen
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date

Highlights

  • Heavy rains causing mass floods continued throughout August, damaging homes, and health and water and sanitation infrastructure. As of the end of August 259,735 people have been affected by floods in 90 districts of 18 governorates and require assistance. UNICEF with UNFPA and WFP provided Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) support to more than 7,604 flood affected families.

  • As of 31 August, there are 1,983 COVID-19 officially confirmed cases, 572 associated deaths and 1,197 recovered cases were reported in south governorates of Yemen, with a 28.8 percent CFR. It means more than a quarter of Yemenis confirmed to have the disease have died. The spread of COVID-19 is likely much greater, due to lack of reporting in the North.
    UNICEF continued to provide risk communication and community engagement activities, reaching 722,464 people.

  • Between 1 January - 28 August 2020, 180,053 Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera suspected cases and 55 associated deaths were reported, with 0.03 per cent of case fatality rate. In August, UNICEF treated 2,341 cholera suspected cases in UNICEFsupported Oral Rehydration Centres and Diarrhoea Treatment Centres.

  • A vaccine derived Poliovirus outbreak was declared in Sa’ada at the beginning of August. UNICEF supported the response planning, which will be carried out in September in Sa’ada and surrounding governorates.

Funding Overview and Partnerships

UNICEF appeal is for $535 million as part of the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC), which is aligned to the 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP)1. While UNICEF continues vigorous fundraising for its 2020 HAC appeal, it has received less than $21 million. A total of $173 million was carried forward from 2019, leaving an overall funding gap of $342 million as of 31 August 2020. UNICEF Yemen will revise down its current HAC appeal to $453 million in the coming month; the revision down takes into consideration the constrained implementing environment and the new COVID-19 appeal, which will cover activities that require adjustments or expansion due to the pandemic.

UNICEF is concurrently mobilizing resources for its COVID-19 response in Yemen, appealing for $103 million as part of the global COVID-19 response. As of 31 August, UNICEF received $42 million against this appeal. Despite the funding gaps and operational constraints, UNICEF continues to implement its responses using alternative modalities. The Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) reached 722,464 people with COVID-19 messages while keeping physical distancing. UNICEF supported the Ministry of Education plans to safely support the reopening of schools in September and October in southern governorates.

As part of continuing efforts to strengthen risk prevention and management measures, UNICEF continued to implement recommendations from the 2019 Office of Internal Audit and Investigation Internal audit report. As a result, UNICEF is actively implementing a series of risk mitigation measures to effectively deliver for children in a highly challenging and complex environment. UNICEF continued to implement the enhanced Harmonised Approach to Cash Transfers (HACT Plus). HACT Plus is a risk management framework that goes beyond the regular HACT framework adopted along with other UN agencies. HACT Plus transcends the minimum prescribed assurance activities in HACT, a decision that is determined by the inherent risk exposure and operating environment. As of 31st August, 120 implementing partners were re-assessed to establish their revised risk profiles using the enhanced risk assessment methodology. A further 80 onsite financial reviews and 74 financial audits are also ongoing, using the revised financial assurance Terms of Reference with an increased focus on fraud detection and prevention. Overall 89% of OIAI audit sub-actions have been completed.