UN Geneva - Multimedia Newsroom : UN Geneva Press Briefing

So thank you very much.

Sorry for this technical itches.

Welcome to the press briefing of the UN Information Service here in Geneva today.

It's Friday, 21st of August.

Although it doesn't look like it's summer outside, but we are grateful for the rain after so much heat.

And I'd like to start this briefing immediately with our colleagues from OCHA.

Hence, you have brought us Julia Arne, who is the senior Ebola Coordinator and who's calling in from Bunya.

I don't know if you want to start or we go directly to Julian.

[Other language spoken]

So Julian, thank you very much for being with us today.

I give you the floor for your introductory remarks.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much and good morning.

The ebolary outbreak is growing exponentially.

In the last three months, 2500 people have died and half of those in the last 20 days.

And the epidemic is spreading widely.

It's now covering an area that is bigger than France.

The, and the outbreak is faster than our response.

It is growing faster and wider than across the whole of the the the area.

And this is an area that has been affected by three decades of conflict with huge humanitarian needs.

Julian, we've lost the sound.

[Other language spoken]

And then we're just just fixing a small technical thing this morning is technology is not with us.

Then we're asking to start from the beginning.

[Other language spoken]

Maybe you want to start from the beginning so we have the continuity of your remarks.

[Other language spoken]

He's muted himself.

[Other language spoken]

So let's let's let's see if we get it right this time.

[Other language spoken]

No, you if you maybe you can speak first about Colombian making it back to him.

[Other language spoken]

I'm sorry about that.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, If it if it's possible so that I don't see myself.

I I see if I could see the pallet, please.

No, it should have been as well.

OK, let's let's let's try then.

So the good morning, the Everett outbreak is growing exponentially.

In the last three months, 3500 people have died and half of those in the last 20 days.

The epidemic is spreading to an area that is bigger than France and the outbreak is growing faster and wider the the Ebola response and all of this is happening in an area which has had three decades of conflict and is generating huge humanitarian needs.

So why has this happened?

Well, the conflict which has been going on in various forms since 1999 has displaced 1,000,000 people.

In it a real the law and order is undermined and the basic service, social services, particularly health have been fragmented.

Why is it so difficult to respond?

Well, the operating conditions are brutal.

160 healthcare workers have been have fallen I'll with Evola and 43 of them have died.

And then when we when we do respond, apart from the threat from the virus, healthcare workers and frontline workers have been attacked by by use, ambulance have been burned and stoned and the healthcare facilities have been attacked.

[Other language spoken]

Last week I was trying to get into an ever hotspot and it took 3 hours to drive 60 kilometres.

And the health system, there's no one health system, but there's a multitude of overlapping health systems, government ones, faith-based non governmental organisations.

And in this area the the banking system barely functions.

The the we're unable to bring in the amount of money that is required to pay the workers, which has led to great unhappiness amongst frontline workers.

And then aid cuts over the years, particularly the last two years, have reduced the capacity of humanitarian organisations by more than 30%.

However, we know what must be done to scale up and we have already started that.

The we've got 5 government LED integrated operational packages which are deepening community engagements, strengthening surveillance, particularly along the along the river, doubling safe and dignified burial teams to over 130 teams, tripling safe care capacity to 3000 beds.

And we need also to fund and implement the Humanitarian Needs and Response programme.

The the government leaders, highly skilled and they're committed.

And we see this from the minister himself, the incident manager, doctors, nurses across all parts of the response.

And each of these integrated packages brings together the unique set of comparative advantage of different UN organisations and non governmental organisations.

We bring in together the deep technical knowledge of the World Health Organisation, Wap's logistics ability, UNICEF's world leading supply chain and MSF's unparalleled skill in clinical management.

And these are just some of the examples of the skills that have been brought together in these integrated packages.

And we're using the Otcher Pool funds to stick these organisations together.

Already $80 million have been invested to kick start these packages.

However, we're only covered for the next weeks and very soon funding will run out.

So we need to get to scale up.

We need to have far greater investment, far greater support than the international community, and every delay in funding and implementation makes this epidemic more deadly, more difficult to stop and more expensive.

So we need that international support immediately.

[Other language spoken]

Sorry this morning, sadly.

Thank you very much junior.

And let me now open the floor to question and I'll seek Alexander from AFP.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for this briefing, Alexandrobo.

AFP, you're, you're mentioning attacks again, frontline workers against ambulances, against healthcare facilities.

Can you elaborate a little bit on this and maybe you would have some figures about the, the, the injured people in those attacks maybe?

[Other language spoken]

So the in, in, in the last six months, we've had more than 260 attacks against health workers in, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and eight health workers have been killed.

And in, in the last month, half of the security incidents against humanitarians have been directed towards persons working on, on the Ebola response, which is, you know, obviously, which is terrifying because you're, you know, people are already risking their lives to, to deal with Ebola.

And then in addition, you have this, this violence directed against them.

Now that emerges particularly from a small number of motorcycle, motorcycle riders, taxi riders, young men, and also in some of the mining communities.

And whilst we can understand that, you know, such people have issues and what what isn't acceptable is the the breakdown in law and order and the direction of violence against health workers who are only trying to help.

Thank you very much.

The questions in the room, Frederick.

Yes, thank you, Frederick, for the newspaper here in Geneva.

[Other language spoken]

First, I didn't understand where Mr Harness is based, where is he speaking from and which country?

And secondly, was talking about 5 governments where mostly involved in in The Who are these five countries or five governments?

And I'm not very clear, right?

[Other language spoken]

So I'm speaking to you from Bunya, which is the capital of the Ituri province in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The I was referring to five operational packages, and all of those operational packages are led by the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo and specifically the incident manager, Professor Steve Ahuka.

And then under government leadership, we bring together UN agencies, NGOs in order to deliver an integrated package of response.

And that's the response in in DRC.

At the same time, we're doing preparedness activities in the neighbouring countries, particularly in South Sudan, which has a very porous border in the Central African Republic, in Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda, which has already successfully dealt with the imported cases some months ago.

[Other language spoken]

Alex, you have a follow up from AFP.

[Other language spoken]

You're saying that the the epidemics is exponentially growing.

Can we, can you, can you say, have you, have you tried to figure out how big the outbreak could become?

Because it's already we know already it's the biggest in the DRC.

So do you have projection on this, please?

Well, the, the, the growth of the epidemic depends upon our actions.

If we invest now, if we provide more staffing, if we get more resources into remote areas across the Democratic Republic, the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, within months we can slow the transmission and move to stopping it.

If we do not, then this epidemic will become more deadly, it will spread wider and it risks to to spread into neighbouring countries.

So we can't model the future, right?

But what we can say is we need international support.

We need the governments to get behind this response, get behind the government, the Democratic Republic of Congo, get behind the UN agencies, get behind the NGOs.

And if we do that, we will control this epidemic.

But it has to be done quickly.

[Other language spoken]

Let's go to the platform.

I have Christian Erich from the German news agency.

[Other language spoken]

My question is on the banking that you mentioned.

Banking is difficult or almost non existent.

What's the problem with the cash distribution?

We have so many international stuff going in and out.

Wouldn't that be easier and also better for the health workers to pay, but their their their salary paid in cash?

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for the question.

So early on in the in the outbreak, there was a decision by the government to stop all commercial flights into into Bunya, right.

And you know, just some of you may know Congo already very well, but you know, it's Bunya is a long way from the capital.

It's a just as a flight, it's a 3 hour flight.

We're in a different time zone from from the capital.

And so when the commercial flights were stored into Bunya, that was also the means by which money is delivered to the banks.

So there is a liquidity problem in Bunya and, and Ituri is an area, this part of the country's scenario where things like mobile phone banking is, is not, is not an option because large parts of the area, there are no mobile phone connectivity.

Can we get people to move the, the cash themselves?

Well, that's very dangerous.

As I, as I noted earlier, this is an area where there is the law and order is, is weak.

We've seen the the issues of violence.

So if if if you were to have humanitarians known to be carrying large amounts of money, then they become Julian, sorry, we have lost you.

I don't know if you can hear me, but we have lost the sound.

[Other language spoken]

I think we have lost, we've lost the, the sound completely.

So we could see you talking, but we, we didn't hear your answer, half of your answer.

Can we try again?

Maybe your technical colleagues can help because we've got still quite a few questions.

[Other language spoken]

It's not Friday the 13th, is it?

No, it could be.

And now we have lost him completely.

Colleagues, what I'm going to do, I'm going to ask you for one moment of patience if we manage to recuperate Julian.

Otherwise, maybe we can go to you, Jens, and then go back to Julian as soon as we catch him again.

[Other language spoken]

Let's give him a little bit of time just in case.

I'm just trying to see if they are reconnecting.

No, I can't see his name on there.

Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Yeah, this this is the problem, you know, now with this beautiful press room, we can connect with the every place in the world.

But sometimes, yeah, the other side that needs some kind of support.

[Other language spoken]

Oh, gone again, but he he's connected again.

So let's let's wait one more minute to see if we can get the audio because I can see the connection has been you are in the meeting now you look at recording in progress.

It's a country where you have a functioning health system.

[Other language spoken]

Ebler is very easy to control if you have a good health system.

You've never had a nebula outbreak which has spread in a country with a functioning, robust health system.

And when it spread into Uganda in the last months, it was quickly, quickly brought under control.

So what needs to happen?

22 time frames, short term time frame.

We need to get behind these integrated packages, bring in more money, bring in more staff and and stop the epidemic.

Medium to long term, we need to look at how can the Democratic Republic of Congo have a solid system healthcare system which is which is not fragmented, which is not a patchwork of of NGOs and faith-based organisations and and bits of government, but a a really solid robust health system.

We have that we will stop that below Christian since there was this technical issues in the answer.

Did you do you want to make a follow up or is it, it's OK what you heard Christian Erhic.

Well, she's not raising her hand.

So I guess that's she could hear the answer.

[Other language spoken]

I'll go to the next question, Isabel Sacco or Spanish news Agency.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

[Other language spoken]

I would like to, I would like to make a follow up on Christiana's question on the bank, the situation of the banking system.

What is the solution that you are foreseen for this problem?

This is the first one and I would like to know who is assuming the payroll of the workers that are in the front line of the of the fight against this envelope outbreak.

Is the international system The Who or is the government of DRC?

And I would, I would like to have a follow up later after that.

[Other language spoken]

So the, you know, the functioning of the banking system is obviously not a humanitarian NGO or UN agency area of competence.

You know, this is only, this can only be done by by the government working with private sector and the the banking and the banking companies out out here in the east.

So, you know, we're encouraging the government to to resolve that and to resolve it quickly.

[Other language spoken]

One of the big differences in this response compared to and a source of hope is that increasingly it is the government that is paying healthcare workers.

So the government is going to be paying all all of the healthcare workers in hospitals and treatment centres and primary healthcare locations.

In addition to that, UN agencies, NGOs are paying for community workers and for the ancillary staff that are absolutely essential to to run these run these facilities.

So we're seeing a greater role of the government in this and which is which is the direction for the future.

[Other language spoken]

It's it's so in in that sense is that is this the reason because we hear all these problems of 1000 of health workers not being paid for the last months and how many are affected more or less?

What is estimation?

This is and I I I would take the opportunity also to ask you about the attacks against health workers, facilities and vehicles.

What is the reasons the reason because they are so targeted by violent actions.

[Other language spoken]

the IT, it's difficult to give a number to your question.

And and then it goes back to the the fact that we don't have one health system in, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

[Other language spoken]

And this is something which dates back to the to the 1980s and the deconstruction of the state that was the result of the civil wars of Congo, in which in this part of the country we've never been able to truly get over in terms of basic social services.

So what that means is that there is no one organisation that knows who all the health care workers are.

And so when the government comes in, start paying healthcare workers, one of the big difficulties of being who should be paid.

And, and one of the, one of the big delays was for the government to go through these lists and to make sure that the, that any ghost workers, any fictitious names were removed.

And, and that, that was a process that that took some weeks because it's, you know, it's my new, my new work.

It's, you know, going through thousands and thousands of names, checking it across a massive area.

So the cleaning of the lists took a lot of time and that was important, important work.

And then there's the, the issues on, on the banking sector, which have have further slowed things down.

And, and then there's a final element, which is in some areas, particularly on community health workers, different organisations were paying different sums, which created a lot of unhappiness amongst community health workers and, and to some stoppages in work.

Now the government yesterday made a decision on what should be paid for community workers by all organisations and that brings clarity and will help reduce the issue.

Now in terms of gay of the, of the attacks, you know, it's a scary thing.

It's a, it's a disease, you know, it's an invisible thread which comes into your community and suddenly people start falling sick around you and your loved ones die.

And that generates a lot of fear in, in any community.

And if we just have to think back to the our own experiences at the beginning of COVID, great fear that that watched around the, the planet, then that's a very normal natural human reaction.

[Other language spoken]

How does that fear translate into violence?

Is that in in Ituri and in the east of the country, the law and order does not function effectively in all parts of the country.

So the fear translates into angry young men who start throwing stones at their object of fear, the ambulance and without a police system, an effective police system that will come in and deal with it.

Now, the governor here in Naturi has made it very clear that persons involved in crimes, fractions of the law will be will be identified and and prosecuted.

But in there is a challenge around impunity in these from for many years, which makes that that difficult.

[Other language spoken]

I go to Gorky Doye, the continent premiere.

[Other language spoken]

For SA de Porte UN put the sulajma to say population MENA like a seizure was there could be A2 table OK of it does you who said epidemic, they wear the please and control lab say contesque ebola Ariva uncle.

There is a question univo commando travel desi manitae of what DP design, said malady.

Mercy, they collect permanence in the lash bar and we say break, continue on the travel and say break the condition.

The the conditions of the men continue.

I deployed tool assistance humanitarian EE medical care necessary on term the contest Ebola Atandra.

They pay you accident too.

The committee, the advance, the regulation, the sanitary International, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee.

So I think evaluation, yeah, kill Cujo, sure.

And solely risk poor lizard lizard pay hombre the risky, the EC in sons barely, barely.

The risk ETA limited system.

The sound.

The effective functional rectal transmission equations.

The Asif Acid E The Triti.

[Other language spoken]

May you pass no pass on la parole la pesosio collector OMS PK on term the the vexor Suki Dan Porton see see that they just de la community see the community main place the the the barrier see like community Adair Allah Allah repost The total moment is the epidemic and polarity la transmission.

He unple for dual mortality.

As I don't told the the The Vamps on some some vexa he he sound therapy, but no he had a vexa.

He did therapy and he did he did probably like this.

The post exposition he saw on trended to developing.

[Other language spoken]

Yeah, thank you very much, Julian.

Good to see you.

And Goki, I will do this in in English, a bit more clear here on my side.

So the strategic advisory group of experts have met, has met this week and we're awaiting recommendations early next week, including doses of the the M vivo vaccine for the vaccine trials, which are going into the phase three now.

And for those is for the Ewala health, for the healthcare workers in the front line.

But one important thing here, while the vaccine is a great tool, it's not the golden tool to at all, as Julian in one way explained very well is how the community outreach is so important, dealing with the communities, making sure that every case is being brought to a healthcare centre.

We still have way too many deaths in in the community.

That is our main tool right now.

The vaccine will be a fantastic addition and to help us fight this.

But again, the work is way more difficult than that.

We cannot just wait for the golden, for the golden vaccine, so to say.

We need to deal with what we have and the community outreach is of essence and more workers out there, more staff out there, more material out there and therefore more funding is of essence.

Thank you to both Paula Dupraz, Geneva Solutions.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for this briefing.

I had a question about the well the US had announced funding through Ocha's pulled funds that would include response assistance in the DRC.

But but I'm just wondering if now that the outbreak has been spreading so quickly, whether you have been in touch with any US authorities locally that regarding any additional contributions towards the Ebola response.

And then simply is there is there a role for the US to play given the, you know, interest that the US has in this particular part of the world, given the mining of critical minerals?

And is there, I mean, do you see any increase?

Also, do you see any increased funding in this region going to local communities through these investment deals or as a result of these investment deals?

[Other language spoken]

Julia, thank you, Paula, we can hear you one moment.

[Other language spoken]

So the, the US is a great supporter.

More than 50% of the funding for the response and also for the humanitarian response is, is coming from the US And it's not just the amount of money they're bringing, it's the way that they're bringing is super useful.

So the fact that that money, a lot of that money is deployed through the the UN SURF, the Central Emergency Response Fund and through the pool fund means that us on the coordination side, we're able to bring together and finance packages of, of response from multiple agencies, which wouldn't be possible when funding is bilateral from donor to agency, donor to agency, donor to agency.

So the support from the US has been excellent both in the amount and, and in the method the I talked to people from the American government, both here state Department persons, CDC persons in, in the Democratic Republic of Congo and persons in, at state in, in Washington, including including late last night.

So we're constantly in touch with them as, as are my, my colleagues.

There's all sorts of levels the way we need to take this further forwards is to bring together all the donors to say, right, we've done this much well, how much more money needs to be put in?

And I think I, I, I believe that when you see other member states, I mean, with the same level of generosity as, as the US government, if we're to finance the response appropriately and to finance the humanitarian needs and response programme.

And one vital tool from that is the updated response plan, every response plan which the government is just finalising now with the cooperation of partners, which should come out in the next days.

And that will give us a clear situation of what the, what the ask is.

But we already know that we need money now.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you, Jimmy Kitten, Associated Press.

Thank you, Mr Hanice again for for coming to see us.

I just wanted to follow up on my question earlier about what can be done.

It's not you mentioned the integrated packages that they need to be sort of focused upon.

That sounds like a long term sort of scenario.

I mean, how quickly can this actually be reined in that, that that seems like a number of things that need to be to be lined up.

So in terms of immediacy, you mentioned the funding needs, but I'm just wondering what can be done in, in an immediate phase.

And and then secondly, yesterday there was an announcement about the, the, the vaccines, thousands of or vivo vaccines going to be deployed.

Can can you tell us how soon you expect that roll out And, and given that this is not necessarily directed against the Bundabunyo, but but just Ebola more broadly, how effective is it really going to be?

[Other language spoken]

And the second question, I think Christian is best placed to, to respond to the trials that are being found right now.

So in terms of immediacy, we've already started on these integrated packages.

And so you know, this is not, this is not something that may happen.

This is not something that will happen in the coming months.

This is something that's been implemented in the last weeks, in the last days, 2 examples.

The, the, the way that we're changing the increase in safe and scalable care, we're going the, the original number of beds we had was 900 and the plan is to get to 3000 in, in three months in since we came up with that package in the last two weeks, we put into place 253 extra beds.

And so we're, we're powering ahead on this because there's lots of organisations who want to work together.

And when you have a pooled fund, it allows you to, to kick start that, to seed it.

So we're starting what we need the money for is to keep us going after the seed funding has has been used out.

Another example is the, the Congo River.

So we have a a package which consists of and IOM working on the boats, WHO, Genes surveillance, UNICEF working along the riverbanks, the communities all the way along the riverbanks from Kisangani down to down to Kinshasa and WFP providing food for any boats that might need to be stopped as a result of them having been identified with having Ebola cases on.

On on a boat, the boats take three weeks to reach from kissing gums to Kinshasa.

So we've got an integrated package, it's funded, it started yesterday and in fact actually that was the launch yesterday.

The work has already been started 2-3 weeks ago.

So these integrated packages are the ways to go and that's what will will stop the response and is already contributing significant across to Christian.

[Other language spoken]

As you have read in that release that you mentioned, the allocation includes 20,000 doses of every bowl for a phase three clinical trial designed to generate critical evidence on whether the vaccine can protect against Ebola disease caused by the bungee Bhogdu virus.

So it also includes 50,000 doses for frontline and health workers in line with the current recommendations of the of the SAGE, the WTO Strategic Advisory group of experts on immanisation, which just met.

And the full recommendations are expected in the coming days following the meeting which happened on 19 August, as requested by the ICG, the International Coordination Group for vaccine provisions.

Important, and that's really key here, is that it's not yet known whether Navibo is protective against the Bungi Bungi virus in humans.

However, recent laboratory and animal data suggests it may provide some protection, and the clinical trial is expected to provide important evidence to inform exactly that and the future policy decisions here.

So W Joe's technical advisory groups reviewed new preliminary animal data showing some degree of cross protection, particularly against death from disease, and concluded that there were no safety concerns about using everyone in the context of a only budget outbreak.

At the same time, W Joe stresses that the vaccine's efficacy against Bundi Bundi virus, disease and transition remains unproven.

Just to hammer that message all the time.

It is not yet our golden tool here, which is why informed consent, clear communication of potential benefits, risks and limitations, and rigorous scientific evaluation are essential.

And then regarding the next steps, WHO and and partners are working to deploy the vaccines as soon as possible together with the government.

Thank you to both.

And the last word comes to Alex Gobois from AFP again.

[Other language spoken]

A question regarding the death toll.

If I'm not mistaken, you're announcing 2500 dead people toll, which is lower than The Who official estimation, which dates from three days ago.

I think the 18th will be possible for you to give us the exact figure you have in hand.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you for the question.

[Other language spoken]

So the, you know, obviously the death toll increases everyday.

You know, I was in a briefing this morning, the government's briefing just just two hours ago and, and we were getting more cases and and more deaths.

So hence the lack of precision.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Thanks to Julia Arneille, our senior ABOLA coordinator Colinian from Bunia.

[Other language spoken]

Really, this was an important update, and I would like to join Gorky's expression of gratefulness for all the work that you're doing there in the aftermath of the World Humanitarian Day.

And also thanks to Christian, who I hope will remain with us in case there are more questions.

But thanks again, and good luck with your important work.

And we stay with Archer because Jens has another point of briefing.

This time we change continents and we're going to Colombia.

Indeed.

Thank you very much, Alessandra, and good morning, everyone.

Today we are officially launching the United Nations Response Plan after the earthquake in Colombia.

319 people have died, according to the government's official figures, and the earthquake affected some 280,000 people.

[Other language spoken]

It destroyed more than 31,000 homes and damaged thousands of educational facilities, community centres and health centres.

The Humanitarian Country team in Colombia is asking for $148 million in emergency funding right now.

And as in other appeals that we have, there's a hyper prioritised subset of needs that require 82,000,000.

So 82,000,000 out of the total ask of 148 million for the earthquake response.

Now the hyper prioritised part of it is to support 127 thousand people who are considered in very high vulnerability.

The most urgent needs are for health support in particular, but also food and nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene, emergency education and protection.

The earthquake, and that was 11 days ago, has made a complex humanitarian situation in Colombia worse.

Hundreds of thousands of families already faced needs due to the armed conflict and limited access to basic services, livelihoods and infrastructure, especially in rural areas and on the Pacific Coast, exactly where the earthquake had its epicentre.

Today's launch complements the efforts of the national and local authorities and it is technically made as an addendum to the country's existing humanitarian needs response plan.

That is an annual plan that asks for some $472 million and that plan is 62% funded.

But this one is in addition to that.

We have already received for the earthquake response $35 million from the donors and thank you very much for that.

The Central Emergency Response Fund has also allocated 5 million for life saving interventions right now.

And as you know, the SURF as we call it, is managed by my office.

Orcha, I will send you a note because there's a lot of numbers here and a couple of links with additional information including to the addendum that we are launching today.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much and thanks for this announcement.

Let me see if there's any question in the room.

[Other language spoken]

So Paula, yes, I wanted to know why it took 11 days for you to launch this effort.

I, I think there was some initially the incoming government had not expressed an interest to receive international assistance.

There seem to be a few bilateral agreements for assistance to come from I guess politically friendly countries.

And so has it been a complicated process to, to negotiate?

That's the UNB involved in the response.

And also, I mean, how, what's your response?

I mean, what, what is the area that this response will involve?

Because that that whole sort of western region has been, you know, historically neglected for, for many years.

[Other language spoken]

And then I, I wanted to ask you also about any efforts by Ocho or other organisations in, in Peru because the, the El Nino has hit the, the country very hard.

And then on top of that, yesterday there was a second earthquake that hits the country in the last couple of weeks.

Has there been any communication from the government, the also incoming governments there as far as international assistance that is needed?

[Other language spoken]

I was noting down to the best of my abilities the many questions.

First on on Colombia, there's been some perhaps misunderstanding or or misperception that there was reluctance from the government side.

That's not the case.

We had, relatively shortly after the actual earthquake happened, a request from the government to the humanitarian country team in Bogota to help and to mobilise and to step up and to coordinate and collaborate on this.

So there was no reluctance at all.

Now first, before we can issue an appeal like this, we need a lot of assessments, damage assessments and particular what are specifically the humanitarian needs for whom, where, what approximately, for how long and so on and so forth.

So we do understand that there is there is an immediate need and we don't wait for a response plan to be finalised before we start responding.

The humanitarian contract team responded immediately.

International, additional international support was also given.

So the response started at the same time as we were getting the various assessment in house, getting it all together, making it into a plan, discussing it with the government's, getting everybody on board.

And today we are launching it.

As I said, there's already 35 million which has flowed into the earthquake response, but more is needed.

As I mentioned, 148 million going forward.

In terms of geography of this, it is primarily the western part of the country.

We know that that is an area that was already dealing with humanitarian issues related to, to the conflict.

And as I also mentioned, limited access to to basic services.

You will see much more detail and I will not go into because I can't pronounce the various localities, but you can, you can see them in the links that I will share with you immediately after this briefing.

On Peru, we have seen the reports of the earthquake there and we are of course, monitoring it.

I do not have any further information on that at this point, but I think this is certainly something we will expect in the course of the day.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Yes, if there are no other questions for Archer don't see other hands up.

So thank you very, very much for all these updates.

Keep us informed on Peru and let me go back to Africa where in Nairobi we have the pleasure to see James connected James Elder for UNICEF.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for being the briefing you wanted to tell us about your visit to Somalia, if I'm not wrong, and the impact of the conflict on children.

[Other language spoken]

Nice to see you again.

Yeah, I was stunned, I must say, by the scale and switch of what we're seeing in the impact.

But let me get into that.

In Somalia today, aid cuts are closing the doors to healthcare, they're shutting down nutrition centres and they're pushing water protection and education further and further from those who need it.

As ever, children are paying the price.

So on the back of unprecedented cuts in humanitarian aid, 205 nutrition facilities have already closed.

Now the impact on that on children has been immediate.

In the first six months of this year, Somalia has seen a 32% increase from the same time last year in children being admitted to stabilisation centres with severe acute malnutrition and complications.

Fewer facilities mean longer journeys for mums and babies.

Longer journeys mean later treatment.

Later treatment means more severe illness and greater risk of preventable death.

This is the wrong moment to retreat.

Somalia is confronting A worsening climate crisis, severe droughts in parts of the north, conflict displacement all on the back of a war in Iran, and rising costs for fuel and fertiliser.

And of course, a record strength.

El Nino threatens to compound Somalia's ongoing humanitarian crisis with severe flooding forecasted forecasted to come in the coming months.

Now, this is a brutal contradiction.

The resources to protect Somalia's vulnerable children.

They're being cut at the very moment that the pressures on Somalia's girls and boys are intensifying, even as the need for generous donor support grows.

This past week I've visited dozens of malnourished children in stabilisation centres who'd arrived to hospital severely I'll because community facilities have closed again.

Hundreds of health and nutrition centres.

So families who've lost crops, who've lost cattle, cattle being their their income.

These are pastoralists.

Cattle is their bank account.

They're searching for support for what are now their malnourished children.

[Other language spoken]

She has a home, her children went to school, she had cattle.

Drought and an ever worsening climate crisis has started to kill those cattle.

Eventually they were all dead.

So from a relatively prosperous life, Hajjio has nothing.

So she fled, looking for shell, for shelter, for help, support.

Today, she's in a makeshift shelter.

And it is makeshift, OK?

It's bits of plastic, and it sticks, offers very, very little protection from scorching sun.

And when it comes rain.

She came to Picaba, that's in southwest Somalia, because she'd heard support would be available.

Instead, Paggio received some clothes and some tomatoes from a nearby community, itself one of the poorest in the country.

She received nothing from the international community.

Now if I just go quickly programme by programme, I'll share these notes programme by programme for UNICEF.

In health, funding cuts have contributed to a 30% reduction in health and nutrition coverage, right?

And the potential scale for further disruption is enormous.

Under these severe funding scenarios that we are living out, as many as 618 health facilities could close nationwide.

In nutrition, nearly 1,000,000 under 5 girls and boys, adolescent girls and women, they all risk losing services to nutrition in Somalia.

That 32% increase I talked about in stabilise because more children are becoming sick.

It's because Prevent centres have been cut and so vulnerable children are less likely to be identified, less likely to be treated early.

By the time they reach those specialised facilities, they're often far more seriously ill.

Now this all sits side by side, a terrifying reality in Somalia.

Nearly 1.2 million children are projected to suffer from malnutrition this year, including half a million say it slowly 500,000 girls and boys with severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form and getting life assistance to those children in need is becoming even harder.

The budget for UNHAS in Somalia, the UNS humanitarian air service that provides critical air connectivity for UNICEF and many other UN agencies, that life saving cargo, that operation, their, their, their operating budget's been cut by 40% last year and this year, 2026, all these cuts, health, nutrition, education, protection, they need to be seen in the context of what's been achieved and therefore what's at risk.

So for UNICEF between 2000, sorry, between 2021 and 2025, we supported 2.25 million admissions of children with severe acute malnutrition.

The cure rate for that, the cure rate for those 2.25 million children, 97.6%.

In 2024, there was a UNICEF support of an Aura Aura cholera vaccination campaign that reached around 880,000 people, again weigh in excess to that 90% target.

We have the programmes, we have the partners.

What is missing is the funding.

If I go to exacerbating the situation with with deteriorating aid, people need access to safe water.

More than 800,000 hygiene supplies.

Meanwhile, the price of water in rural and pastoral areas has quadrupled.

200 litre barrel that costs $2.00 now costs 8.

Nonetheless, UNICEF has reached more than a million people through emergency and sustainable water services.

But again, without new funding, these gains are at risk.

Education.

OK, we know education protects from exploitation, from early marriage, from child labour, whilst it gives communities and young people a pathway, A pathway out of poverty.

However, years of generous donor investment in children's futures is being undone far faster than it can be built.

To put a dollar to that, the education sector lost $30 million in 2025.

Major donors are expected to reduce by more than 1/2 this year.

More than 78,000 students have already dropped out.

More than 600,000 girls and boys are at risk now.

Remembering again during the drought of 2022, UNICEF support on the back of generous donor support meant actually 130,000 girls and boys stayed in school in protection.

Again, current current cuts need to be seen in the context of what's been achieved and therefore what's at risk.

In 2024 and 2025, thousands of children formerly associated with armed groups or at risk of recruitment received reintegration support.

Somalia is a country with one of the highest rates of reported violations against children, yet funding cuts mean at least 65 child protection service points and facilities have closed.

Other services, case management, psychological support, reintegration, they're all under threat.

Let me just give you 1 anecdote.

One child right behind all these horrific funding cuts.

Abdullah, who I met a couple of days ago, he's a teenager, right?

He wanted to be a mechanic and he's always tinkering with machinery in his village.

Non state armed group noticed this, right?

They offered him work as a mechanic.

Now without any opportunity where he was and desperate to support his mum who's widowed, his father had been killed.

Abdullah took it right.

He took the opportunity, training and money.

[Other language spoken]

He was thrown into the battlefield.

He tried to escape, he was captured.

He was eventually wounded in battle.

Then Abdullah was captured by government forces.

Now, if we just go back to 2024-2025, UNICEF supported more than 160 children just like this who'd been associated with armed groups, with training centres, electrics, mechanics, cooking.

They got starter kits to help them start their business.

And many of these kids then they did that.

They launched small businesses, they found jobs.

But funding cuts mean there are no starter kits, there is no kick start.

For Abdullah, that training those kits, they represent a pathway for young people to a more stable future in Somalia, right?

It helps children not be re recruited, helps them go back to their families and contribute to their communities.

Now in an interconnected world, aid cuts threaten security and economic prosperity everywhere.

This is as true in Somalia as it is anywhere in the world.

So surely the question is not whether Somalia needs less aid because the world's become more difficult.

The question is, can the world afford to make Somalia more fragile, even when those difficulties are multiplying?

Surely the answer is no.

Amid these challenges, Somali people and institutions keep adapting.

The government strengthens policies, regulation and national systems, and humanitarian humanitarian actors are endlessly seeking more ways to be efficient, local and sustainable.

But Somalia should not have to choose between drought response and development, between sick children and preventing malnutrition, or between emergency water and sustainable systems.

The world should not behave as though crises stop at borders.

A world of interconnected economies, climate shocks, child recruitment into conflicts that spread across borders, and displacement cannot afford to dismantle the systems that protect the most, the people who are most exposed to these things.

Protecting children is not a discretionary expense.

Preventing suffering is not an inefficiency and dismantling effective aid at the moment of greatest need, it is not a saving, it's a decision to pay more later in money insecurity, in lost development and increasingly in child's lives.

Thank you, James, thank you very much for this update.

Just if you can make sure that your notes are going to the journalist very quickly because while you were speaking, there were few cuts in your voice.

It it started again very quickly.

But there may be one or two words that have been lost here and there.

So it would be really important that you distribute them as soon as possible.

Let me open the floor to questions, if any, to UNICEF.

Don't see any in depth.

I don't see any hands up.

So but thank you very much and and please yes, distribute your your note because it's it's very important to underline this very dire situation to do the cuts.

[Other language spoken]

I just have a couple of announce yes, Alex is for James.

No, no, I will have a question for WMO.

If Clare is online for WMO, I don't know.

[Other language spoken]

I Yes, I have her on my list.

So she should be here.

She was supposed to.

[Other language spoken]

Give her a moment.

[Other language spoken]

Yes, she is.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much for being available.

[Other language spoken]

Britain's National Weather agency has just predicted that this year's El Nino will be the biggest in over a century.

It will warm surface temperature to an unheard of level, as I said, and they also said that it will peak at something over 3°.

Can you tell us today if WMO reaches the same conclusion that it would be the biggest over a century?

[Other language spoken]

Thanks for the question.

I've also seen, I've seen, seen the report.

The World Meteorological Organisation will be issuing its next El Nino update on the 3rd of September and there will be a press conference with our Secretary General Celeste Salo in the press room hosted by UNTV and you are all invited to that.

So at the moment we're obviously seeing a lot of different pronouncements on El Nino.

On the strength of El Nino.

What the WMO update does is we take a consensus of the models from the global producing centres, from our regional climate centres and from a pretty extensive network of experts.

And we, you know, we compile it all together in, in, in one consolidated update.

So ahead of the 3rd of September, I don't really want to pronounce, you know, on, on its, on its strength, but you know, obviously we, we are aware of all these, these reports.

Every time I, you know, I, I look at my phone, I see, you know, yet another article on the, the impact of, of El Nino, be it in Somalia, such as James was just saying, be it in, you know, in South America, Peru, Chile, so many other countries.

So we are very, very closely monitoring it.

But ahead of the update on the 3rd of September, I don't really want to say you know anything about its strength, but we will, you know, we will be issuing quite a comprehensive media package and it will be sent to you under embargo.

[Other language spoken]

Thank you very much.

Thanks, Claire, also for this heads up.

It's OK with you, Alex.

[Other language spoken]

So thank you very much, Claire.

There are other questions for WMOI.

[Other language spoken]

Hands up.

So let me conclude with a few announcements.

We have two press conferences on Tuesday at 934 HCHR.

The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is to announce findings from Finland, Honduras, India and Kuwait.

That will be with the members of the committee and main speaker will be the Chairperson Gunkut.

The same day, Tuesday at 2:30 PM, Unity will launch the 2026 Arms Trade Treaty Monitor report with the project lead Andrea Eduardo Varisco and other speaker including new Buff Utul, the advocacy and communications Senior Officer, Humanity and inclusion from Keith.

And just a small announcement on the Conference on Disarmament, which will end it's 2026 session on 11th September.

Today, the session that they're having in the morning, the President of the conference, Ambassador Andrabi of Pakistan has presented is presenting draft report of the conference to the General Assembly.

So if you have is anybody has any other question?

I don't see hands up.

So thank you very much.

We will be trying to inform you this afternoon.

I'm giving you a heads up on some other activities and media opportunities on the issue of disarmament.

We'll try to send you information today.

So keep an eye on your on your e-mail for more events on disarmament for next week.

Otherwise, thank you very much.

Have a nice weekend and I'll see you on Tuesday.

[Other language spoken]

UN Geneva Press Briefing - 21 August 2026