Crisis watch

Hurricanes Eta and Iota

More than 4 million people in Honduras (41% of the population) have been affected by the impacts of Eta and Iota. In addition to damage to homes and livelihoods, more than 400 health centres have reported storm damage and an estimated 2 million people have limited or no access to health services.

So far, CARE Honduras has reached 10,576 people through the distribution of hygiene kits, drinking water, food, child nutrition kits and mattresses; information sessions have also been organised on gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response. CARE has contributed to the preparation of a standardised protocol for use by all partners in the humanitarian response to address protection and GBV issues in shelters. CARE has also been conducting a rapid gender analysis to assess the needs of women, girls and other marginalised people.

In Guatemala, 2.4 million people have been affected. CARE Guatemala has so far reached 1,978 people through the distribution of hygiene kits, personal protective equipment (PPE), food, sleeping mats and blankets.

Yemen – COVID-19 and reproductive health services

In Taiz governorate in south-western Yemen, nearly 52% of internally displaced people are women, 20% of whom are of childbearing age and require reproductive health services for safe pregnancy and childbirth. Yet half of the health facilities in Taiz are not fully functioning, and the other half is suspended. Only 30% of the operating facilities provide some form of reproductive health services.

The strain caused by COVID-19 and the lack of funding has further diminished reproductive health services through health facilities and midwives, resulting in an increase in maternal mortality rates in Taiz.

CARE is providing much-needed reproductive health services in six districts of Taiz governorate. Read more about how CARE is providing reproductive health services in Taiz, in this multimedia story:​

• The Safe Arrival: Life-saving reproductive health services in war-torn Taiz, Yemen

Yemen hunger crisis

The window to prevent famine in Yemen is narrowing as new figures reveal record highs of acute food insecurity in the country, according to UN agencies.

A new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for Yemen indicates that pockets of famine-like conditions (IPC Phase 5: catastrophe) have returned for the first time in two years, and are expected to get significantly worse in the coming months. Combined with 3.6 million people in IPC Phase 4 (emergency) and 9.8 million people in IPC Phase 3 (crisis), this means that 13.5 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity, despite ongoing humanitarian food assistance. Acute malnutrition rates among children under five are the highest ever recorded in parts of Yemen, with a 10 per cent increase seen in 2020.

Aaron Brent, CARE Yemen Country Director, said:

As IPC results are published for the north of Yemen, it is clear that the situation for millions of Yemenis is extremely concerning.

“This latest dataset is the best information we have to demonstrate the extent of the needs in the north of the country. In southern governorates the levels of child malnutrition in some areas are the worst ever. These small children, often babies, will never be able to reach their full potential. Their growth will be stunted and – if they survive – they will live with the impacts of this terrible conflict for the rest of their lives.”

As humanitarians we are well aware that humanitarian aid should be the last resort. It is much better to provide sustainable support to people to enable them to build lasting livelihoods. But the six-year conflict has left us with no alternative – if we don’t provide immediate and urgent humanitarian aid, people will die.

Suha Basharen, CARE Yemen Gender Specialist, said:

Everyone is affected by hunger and a lack of food, with small children, pregnant women and the elderly most vulnerable to malnutrition. Even those with more robust bodies are unable to cope with a reduction in the number of meals they eat and a lack of dietary diversity. And the psychological impact can be devastating. Many parents feel they have no options left and are haunted by their children’s relentless hunger.

CARE has reached 2.8 million people in the last year across 13 governorates and 95 districts. We support the most vulnerable to meet their basic and immediate food needs. We have integrated our COVID response into existing programmes and are continuing with our lifesaving programmes including distributions of food, cash and vouchers as well as non-food items like hygiene kits and shelter items.

Sudan – influx of displaced people from Tigray conflict

Conflict in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia has already forced over 27,000 people to flee the fighting and cross the borders into Sudan with an average of 4,000 people arriving each day. This figure is predicted to rise to a staggering 200,000 over the coming days and weeks, putting immense pressure on existing structures in the border Sudanese states of Gedaref and Kassala. Tesfaye Hussein, Program Director for CARE International in Sudan, says:

More than half of the people arriving are women, children and a significant number of them are pregnant and lactating mothers which adds additional challenges and health risks. The number of refugees already exceeds the capacity of the two sites designated by the government for this influx and the border areas are congested with people waiting to be relocated. People are arriving exhausted and afraid – it is truly a terrible situation.

CARE has a sub-office in Kassala and Gedaref States and implements WASH (water, sanitation, hygiene), health, nutrition, and COVID-19 responses targeting host community members and more than 40,000 refugees in Shagrab refugee camp, close to where the new refugees have arrived. The most urgent immediate needs are food, WASH, health and nutrition services, sanitary pads for women and girls of reproductive ages, and emergency shelter. Hussein notes:

Sudan is already recovering from some of the worst floods in our recent history, with over 7 million people facing high levels of acute food insecurity, as well as continuing COVID-19 cases and a resurgence of polio cases in Gedaref, that are putting added pressure on a stretched health system. Now the arrival of potentially hundreds of thousands of refugees who are desperately in need of everything from food, to medical care and a place to stay, is creating a true humanitarian crisis for the country, the likes of which have not been seen for many years. This is not a situation we predicted in our emergency scenario planning. We are honestly worried how we will cope.

CARE has released internal emergency funds to start an immediate response and is appealing for donor funding to provide water, sanitation and hygiene services as well as health and nutrition services to refugees in both Kassala and Gedaref states.

Hunger and food insecurity made worse by COVID-19

The United Nations has warned of a growing hunger epidemic in seven countries (Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Yemen, Ethiopia) due to a combination of conflict, economic decline, climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report from CARE, Sometimes we don’t even eat: How conflict and COVID-19 are pushing millions of people to the brink, warns that the number of people experiencing serious food insecurity could nearly double before the end of 2020. The report details how conflict not only leads to life threatening hunger but how the compounding stressors of conflict and food insecurity uniquely impact women and girls, increasing their risk for intimate partner violence, early and forced marriage, cutting off education, and being forced to engage in transactional sex.

• Read more in the report, including case studies of the situation in the DRC, northeast Nigeria, South Sudan, and Yemen.