In a statement, the UN has just indicated that 184 basic health services have been suspended due to lack of funds for humanitarian activities. The humanitarian workers there fear the worst.
War, terrorism, and now a humanitarian crisis, all the tragedies in the world are unfortunately befalling Iraq. According to BBC Africa, 184 essential programs were suspended in the country due to lack of funding for humanitarian activities. According to the United Nations (UN), 500,000 children will not be immunized, posing a risk of a measles epidemic and a return of polio.
More food rations for 1 million people
Worse still, in a Press release, the UN indicates that “this financial situation has already led to a reduction in food rations for a million people”. In addition, nearly a third of programs related to water, sanitation and hygiene have been closed and other programs will meet the same fate at the end of July, it is written in this text. Assistance programs for women and girls who suffer from the after-effects of sexual violence will also be suspended.
The UN on the verge of bankruptcy
As a reminder, the UN launched on June 4 an appeal to collect 500 million dollars to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq. Only 15% of these funds were obtained. “When the people in Iraq need us most, we let them down,” lamented the UN humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, Lise Grande, in comments reported by Agence France Presse. According to her, “around 10 million Iraqis will be in critical need of assistance by the end of 2015”. In particular because of the jihadists of the Islamic State who launched their offensive in June 2014, conquering large territories of Iraq.
The good news, however, is that countries are already starting to respond to this UN call. On its website, Itele indicates that the day after the publication of the UN communiqué “new aid from Japan has arrived. It amounts to 10 million euros ”, specify these journalists. For this gesture of generosity, Lisa Grande has already thanked Japan, specifying that the generosity of the Japanese government would help the UN “to keep several health programs open in the coming months”, without however specifying the number.
It remains for other countries to follow the Japanese example.
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