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UNICEF Mozambique Humanitarian Situation Report No. 6 (Reporting Period: 1 – 30 July 2021)

Countries
Mozambique
Sources
UNICEF
Publication date

Highlights

• The COVID-19 positivity rate doubled in July with a death toll 13 times higher than June.

• Over 9,000 people, of who 49% are children, moved within Cabo Delgado districts seeking safe refuge.

• UNICEF supported a measles vaccination campaign reaching 200,000 children under 15 in Cabo Delgado.

• Over 531,000 people were reached with key messages on the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse.

• UNICEF supported the treatment of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) of 552 children 6 to 59 months and vitamin A supplementation of 43,629 children.

• UNICEF supported cash transfers, with WFP, to over 17,000 households.

Situation in Numbers

689,000 children in need of humanitarian assistance

1.3 million people in need (OCHA, Dec 2020)

857,084 internally displaced (INGD, August 2021)

118,534 internally displaced from Palma (IOM, 29 July 2021)

Funding Overview and Partnerships

UNICEF’s 2021 Humanitarian Action for Children appeal, revised in June 2021 due to escalating needs, requests $96.5 million to provide lifesaving and life-sustaining services for children and their caregivers in Mozambique. Thus far in 2021, UNICEF Mozambique has received $20,4 million for its humanitarian response from the Governments of Canada, Japan, Norway, Sweden, Italy, the United Kingdom, ECHO, Education Cannot Wait and the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund. This includes allocations from UNICEF’s global humanitarian funding of $3.9 million to support ongoing response activities. UNICEF expresses its sincere gratitude to all our donors. The 2021 appeal, however, still has a funding gap of 65 per cent as detailed in Annex B. Significant needs remain for all of UNICEF’s ongoing emergency programmes. Without the required funding, UNICEF will be unable to provide access to safe water, health and nutrition services, learning opportunities, critical child protection support and support to survivors of gender-based violence.

Situation Overview & Humanitarian Needs

The month of July was marked by the third wave of COVID-19 (largely the delta variant) which led to swift increase of cases, hopitalizations, and deaths. According to the Ministry of Health, the positivity rate in July doubled, while the number of hospitalizations increased five times and the death toll increased 13 times when compared with June. Overall, since the onset of the outbreak in March 2020, Mozambique reported a total cumulative of 132,452 cases of COVID-19 (24,102 active cases), death toll of 1,613 and 6,238 hospitalizations (4.7%). Maputo city and surrounding areas continue to be at the centre of the outbreak, recording the majority of the cases (42.2%), hospitalizations (68.7%) and deaths (70.4%). In July alone, the positivity rate reached 37% in Maputo city and 44% in Maputo province. As a result of this spike in COVID-19 cases, the Government intensified the restriction measures closing the schools in very high risk locations (12 in total including Maputo city), increased the curfew time in all capital cities, reduced the number of participants in events/meetings, introduced new working hours in public and private institutions among others and will be conducting massive vaccination campaign from 04-18 August.

The situation in Cabo Delgado continues to be volatile and unpredictable. However, with the arrival and support of Rwandan security forces, the Government has been accessing and reoccupying locations that have not accessible for months or years. However, the affected population continues to move to southern districts and other areas considered safe, seeking refuge and protection. According to the IOM emergency tracking tool released 04 August, 9,204 people (49% children) moved across districts of Cabo Delgado; 15% of IDP movements originated from Palma. The highest number of arrivals were recorded in Mueda (33%), Montepuez (24%), Nangade (18%) and Pemba city. The majority of IDPs, 65% are living in host communities.

The National Institute for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction (INGD), indicated that there are now 857,084 people displaced in the country of whom 411,916 are children. Displacement is caused by conflict in Cabo Delgado and the instability in central region. Ninety-nine percent of the IDPs are from Cabo Delgado; the remaining 8,726 IDPs are from Sofala and Manica provinces. About 84.5% of the IDPs are living in host communities, 9.4% in resettlement sites and 6.1% in temporary accommodation. The districts of Palma, Mocimboa da Praia, Nangade and Muidumbe continue to be hard-to-reach areas due to security conditions aggravated by poor road conditions.