MILLIONS OF BOYS AND GIRLS ARE AT RISK – IN CHAD, WE FIND ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST-PRESSING HUMANITARIAN SITUATIONS The numbers of displaced children, refugee children, and children living without access to education in the Lake Chad Region are staggering. Violence in the region has closed 1,000 schools, and educational opportunities for 3.5 million children are at risk. To put these astounding numbers into context, 3.5 million is about the number of people that live in Connecticut today, and it’s the total population of Uruguay. Violence, displacement and the collapse of basic services have led hundreds of thousands of families, especially the southern half of the country, to be dependent on aid. Humanitarian organizations are working with the Government of Chad to respond to the crisis and gain access to people in need, but insecurity and financial constraints remain major challenges. Bordered by Libya, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Cameroon, Nigeria and Niger – and despite poverty and under-development – Chad has also over the past decade welcomed refugees fleeing attacks from non-state armed groups and displacement by extreme hunger in the arid region known as the Sahel. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), although food insecurity has decreased by 18 percent in 2019 due to a good agricultural season, 3.7 million people face food insecurity, and 2.2 million people suffer from malnutrition, a 29 percent increase compared to last year over the same period. The nutritional situation is critical for 350,000 children, a 59 percent increase compared to last year. OCHA/Naomi Frerotte Ashta, a displaced woman in Yakoua IDP camp, Chad Over the coming year, the HRP – which includes the provision of shelter, food, nutrition support, safe water and sanitation services, health care, and basic education for 2 million people – and […]
