SEATTLE — The Lake Chad humanitarian crisis is a result of continuous violence perpetrated by the extremist insurgency group Boko Haram since 2013 in Lake Chad Basin, comprising parts of Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria.
Depth of the crisis
The region has borne the loss of more than 26,000 people in Borno alone. Insurgents have abducted hundreds of girls and used countless children as suicide bombers. Widespread destruction of villages, hospitals and schools accompanies loss of life, and millions and fled their homes. Insurgents have also destroyed about 40 percent of health facilities in Borno and reportedly displaced somewhere between 2.1 and 4.7 million people.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Fund, 10.7 million people are in need of assistance in the Lake Chad Basin. People unable to return to their homes are seeking refuge in the nearby cities including the capital of Borno, Maiduguri and Jere. Host communities provide shelter to more than 78 percent of the internally displaced people (IDP), resulting in a shortage of resources and opportunities for livelihood.
The most severely affected areas in Nigeria, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe house 1.68 million internally displaced persons, at least half of whom are children. In June 2016, experts estimated that 49,000 of the 244,000 children suffering from malnutrition would die without immediate care. This resulted in a state of nutrition emergency in Borno. After a two-year absence, residents reported four polio cases in Borno in 2016.
Experts have predicted severe nutrition emergencies in the newly accessible areas of Monguno, Konduga and Ngala, with an alarming 87 percent of the population relying on inadequate food supply. Experts anticipate approximately 400,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition with a 20 percent fatality rate in 2017. Reports have indicated greater incidence of malaria while cholera and diarrhea remain major health risks due to poor sanitation.
Who is on the ground?
Humanitarian organizations have deployed assistance to Local Government Areas despite risks including attacks on humanitarian convoys. Additional constraints including limited accessibility only through U.N. air service or military escorts, curfews, lack of fuel or civilian cars and storage facilities hinder efforts.
Nonetheless, more than 60 NGOs including the U.N., Norwegian Refugee Council, Danish Refugee Council, Medecins Sans Frontieres, International Rescue Committee, International Organization for Migration, Action Against Hunger, Save the Children, Socours Islamique France, Cooperazione Internationale, Première Urgence Internationale, ALIMA, International Medical Corps, Mercy Corps and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency are on the ground. Local NGOs such as the Civil Society Coalition for Poverty Eradication, the Bama Community Peace Initiative and the Arm of Hope are working alongside international organizations.
The World Health Organization (WHO) deployed emergency teams to work alongside the Nigerian Government in Borno, Adamawa, Yobe and Gombe. The first round of polio vaccinations was provided to one million children in response to the polio emergency in August 2016. Rebuilding infrastructure in addition to life-saving immunizations is part of the WHO’s sustainable approach to alleviating the Lake Chad humanitarian crisis. The European Union has also committed €203 million in 2016 towards urgent aid for the vulnerable populations in areas affected by Boko Haram, including Sahel.
Call for action
The IDPs and host populations are in desperate need of assistance including food, water, sanitation, safety, housing and health services. UNICEF strives to provide critical care, but with more areas recovering from years of violence and destruction, supply is falling short of the increasing demand. UNICEF failed to meet its 2016 goals after receiving only 13 percent of its requested funding. Only 96,000 of the 573,000 children under 5 suffering from malnutrition, two million of the 4.3 million in need of primary health care and 444,000 of the 1.4 million in need of clean drinking water received support. Only 132,000 out of 1.1 million saw their sanitation needs met and only 109,000 of the intended 520,000 had access to schools.
About 5.6 million children under 18 represent almost half the people suffering in Lake Chad Basin. UNICEF has requested $195 million to meet its 2017 goal of providing assistance to half the population in need. According to Doctors Without Borders, a sudden lack of children in camps and clinics has led to apprehensions about losing an entire generation of children under 5 to famine. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which has invested $150 million into relief, is also appealing for international support in the wake of the crisis.
The deputy humanitarian coordinator for the U.N. in Nigeria, Peter Lundberg, deemed this to be the worst humanitarian crisis on the African continent. Lundberg said the crisis would only get worse in the absence of immediate action. Approximately $1.5 billion is needed to prevent the demise of an entire generation of IDPs, according to U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Though an exact count of infant lives already lost is not known, more than 10 million lives remain at stake in the Lake Chad humanitarian crisis.
– Preeti Yadav
Photo: Flickr