The United Nations Office at Geneva
Multimedia Newsroom
Edited News | UNICEF , OCHA , WFP
UNOG Bi-weekly press briefing: Tigray Malnutrition - UNICEF-WFP-OCHA + B-roll
More than 100,000 children in Tigray, Ethiopia, could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months, a 10-fold jump over average annual levels, UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.
The development comes as UNICEF announced that it had recently reached areas of Tigray that were previously inaccessible owing to insecurity linked to nearly nine months of conflict between Government forces and those loyal to the Tigray People’s Liberation Front.
UNICEF spokesperson Marixie Mercado told a UN briefing in Geneva that humanitarians’ worst fears about the health and wellbeing of children have been confirmed.
Assessments also indicate that 47 per cent of pregnant and breastfeeding women are acutely malnourished, suggesting that they could face more pregnancy-related complications, an increased risk of maternal death during childbirth and the delivery of low-birthweight babies, who are much more prone to sickness and death.
"We need unfettered access into Tigray and across the region, in order to provide support children and women urgently need," she said.
Meanwhile, World Food Programme (WFP) spokesperson Tomson Phiri, said that a convoy of more than 200 trucks was on its way to Tigray, but “this is a drop in the ocean.” At least 100 trucks are needed every day “if we are to stand a chance to reverse the catastrophic situation,” he said.
The United Nations needs “critical communications equipment and longer-term visas for NGO staff” for its aid operation in Tigray, UN humanitarian coordination office (OCHA) spokesperson Jens Laerke said, in an appeal to the Ethiopian Government.
Speaking of her own recent experience in the region, Ms. Mercado noted that one young female survivor of sexual assault told her that “she watched her grandmother get killed, she was raped by several men and she watched her nine month old baby being tossed around by other men”.
A doctor at a UNICEF supported referral centre in Mekelle told her that he had been struck by the fact that in many cases it was not the assault itself, but rather the psychological damage it inflicts on children, women and health staff, that was most difficult to bear.
ENDS
STORY: TIGRAY MALNUTRITION
TRT: 4:24”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 31 JULY 2021, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
SHOTLIST
- 1.Exterior wide shot, United Nations flag flying.
- Wide shot, press room briefing
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MARIXIE MERCADO, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON:
- “UNICEF estimates that over 100,000 children in Tigray could suffer from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in the next 12 months. A tenfold increase compared to the average annual caseload. Screening data also indicated that almost half, that’s 47 per cent of all pregnant and breastfeeding women, who are acutely malnourished.”
- 4.Close of journalists in press briefing room.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MARIXIE MERCADO, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: “We need unfettered actress into Tigray and across the region in order to provide the support children and women urgently need. Right now, we have just 6,900 cartons of lifesaving, ready to eat, therapeutic foods in our warehouses in Tigray. That is enough to treat severe malnutrition in just 6,900 children.”
- 6.Close up of TV camera filming in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) MARIXIE MERCADO, UNICEF SPOKESPERSON: “She watched her grandmother get killed, she was raped by several men and she watched her nine-month old baby being tossed around by other men and what the doctor at this UNICEF supported referral centre in Mekelle said which also struck me was that in many cases, it’s not the assault itself, but it's the psychological damage.”
- 8.Journalists in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) TOMSON PHIRI,WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SPOKESPERSON: “A convoy of over 200 trucks is on its way now from Semera to Mekelle. This is a drop in the ocean. We need at least 100 trucks to be making their way every day into Tigray if we are to stand a chance to reverse the catastrophic situation which we have today.”
- 10.Mid of journalists in press briefing room
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) TOMSON PHIRI,WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME SPOKESPERSON: “Yes we are getting access but we need much, much faster passage. This is a catastrophic situation, one that we can already see will further deteriorate and we need all hands on deck, trucks getting in, supplies moving in, aid workers accessing in and out of Tigray at a much faster rate.”
- 12.Mid of journalists in press briefing room.
- SOUNDBITE: (ENGLISH) JENS LAERKE, SPOKESPERSON, UN HUMANITARIAN OFFICE: “There’s one thing that is a very concrete ask from us to the government of Ethiopia and that is that the Government must permit humanitarians to bring in additional communications equipment and provide longer-term visas for NGO staff. This is critical. We need these things in order to operate.”
- Images of UNICEF aid work in Tigray, 19 July 2021.
Similar Stories
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk addressed the Human Rights Council during a meeting on the Israeli strike on negotiators in Qatar on Tuesday. “Israel’s strike on negotiators in Doha on 9 September was a shocking breach of international law, an assault on regional peace and stability, and a blow against the integrity of mediation and negotiating processes around the world,” he said.
1
1
1
Edited News | UNICEF
Gaza: Thirsty and starving, war-battered families face ‘inhumane’ evacuation
As bombs continue to fall on Gaza City as part of the intensifying Israeli military operation, families with starving children are being pushed southwards from one “hellscape” to another, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
New UN Human Rights report finds 10 years of increased suffering repression and fear
The UN Human Rights Office on Friday published a report on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) since 2014.
1
1
2
Edited News | UNICEF , UNHCR
The ongoing humanitarian response to the devastating Afghanistan earthquake disaster continued on Friday, although essential services have been cut for operational reasons following reinforced Taliban restrictions on women working with the UN, the global body said.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
Un nouveau rapport du Haut-Commissariat des Nations Unies aux droits de l'homme sur la République démocratique du Congo évoque le spectre de crimes de guerre et de crimes contre l'humanité dans le Nord et le Sud-Kivu.,
2
1
2
Press Conferences , Edited News | HRC
A high-level independent rights probe into the Sudan crisis on Tuesday condemned the many grave crimes committed against civilians by all parties to the war, citing disturbing evidence indicating that they had been “deliberately targeted, displaced and starved”.
1
1
1
Edited News | WHO
Ukraine: ‘Relentless’ attacks rattle health system as winter approaches: WHO
Ambulances attacked, chronically ill patients lacking care and no peace in sight: for millions of Ukrainians, the run-up to another winter of war is just the latest life-or-death challenge they face, the UN health agency (WHO) said on Tuesday.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his report on Sri Lanka to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG
UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk on Monday delivered his global update to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
A UN report on the Democratic Republic of Congo raises specter of war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu, according to UN Human Rights Spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
1
1
1
Edited News | WMO
As billions of people continue to breathe polluted air that causes more than 4.5 million premature deaths every year, UN climate experts on Friday highlighted how damaging microscopic smoke particles from wildfires play their part, travelling half-way across the world.
1
1
1
Edited News | OHCHR
UN Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence made the following comment on the on-going presidential election process in Cameroon at the bi-weekly press briefing in Geneva.