Latest news with #CAREInternational
TimesLIVE
02-07-2025
- Health
- TimesLIVE
USAID cancelled rape survivor kits for Congo as conflict erupted
The post-rape kits come in a box containing HIV medication to prevent infection within 72 hours, antibiotics and testing for sexually transmitted diseases and emergency contraception. The supplies paid for by USAID were meant to reach over 2,000 facilities. 'This kit is truly important to reassure the woman who has been really traumatized that she won't get AIDS, that she won't have an unwanted pregnancy, and that she won't contract venereal diseases,' said Amadou Bocoum, the country director of CARE International. The UNFPA shared a document with Reuters that indicated that only seven out of 34 health zones in North Kivu have a minimal supply of post-rape kits left. Less than one-in-four survivors' needs are currently being met. Only 13% of survivors that request help receive medication to prevent HIV within the recommended 72-hour window. While the US State Department has said it will continue to support life-saving programs worldwide, the contract to supply post-rape kits to survivors remains cancelled. Trump has said that the US pays disproportionately for foreign aid and he wants other countries to shoulder more of the burden. The US disbursed $65bn (R1.1 trillion) in foreign assistance last year, nearly half of it via USAID, according to government data. The UNFPA and other aid organisations are trying to raise around $35m(R619m) to cover the loss of funding from the United States from donors such as the Gates Foundation and other Western nations. The consequences of the cancellation include survivor deaths, the spread of HIV, unwanted pregnancies, and unsafe abortions with high maternal-mortality risk, the UNFPA document said.
Arab Times
25-06-2025
- Health
- Arab Times
Laos expands clean water access in remote areas
VIENTIANE, June 25, (Xinhua): Lao authorities are partnering with development partners to ensure year-round access to safe and sustainable water in remote and climate-vulnerable areas, supporting national goals for water security, public health, and climate resilience. Laos' Ministry of Health and CARE International in Laos signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday to expand access to safe and sustainable water in vulnerable communities in northern Laos' Phongsaly province. The five-year project will benefit about 14,658 people in 15 communities across two districts of Phongsaly, some 750 km north of the Lao capital Vientiane. It aims to provide year-round access to clean drinking water for every household by developing sustainable, locally appropriate water supply systems and strengthening community capacity to manage and maintain them over time. In addition to infrastructure, the initiative will introduce climate-resilient strategies, including community-led forest and watershed protection efforts to preserve water sources. It will also strengthen local knowledge, governance, and technical skills at both village and district levels. The project also aims to support long-term water security, public health, and environmental sustainability.
Business Recorder
13-05-2025
- Health
- Business Recorder
Half a million Somali children risk dying from hunger: NGO
NAIROBI: Almost half a million children in Somalia face severe malnourishment and are at risk of dying from hunger, an NGO warned Monday, just as international aid operations are scaled back. The Horn of Africa nation is one of the world's poorest, enduring decades of civil war, climate disasters and a bloody insurgency by the Al-Qaeda-linked Al-Shabaab. The country only recently began to recover from a long-running drought, while widespread flooding in 2023 saw almost one million people displaced. CARE International said the number of severely malnourished children under five had increased to 1.8 million, citing projections by a UN-backed monitoring body dated March 29. 'Of these, 479,000 are expected to be severely malnourished and at risk of dying without urgent help,' it said. CARE International said the country's 'malnutrition crisis is accelerating faster than predicted' thanks to 'seasonal challenges and the fallout from 2024's drought'. As a result, in the hardest-hit areas across the country the number of people in 'emergency conditions surged by 50 percent'. Ummy Dubow, CARE Somalia country director, said women and children were most affected. 'Every day, we hear countless human tragedies in the centres we run. Pregnant women sacrificing their nutrition, mothers watching their children waste away from acute malnutrition, and young girls being pulled from school to help families survive,' he said in a statement. The situation was being exacerbated by funding cuts, with aid groups forced to scale back operations and this year's United Nations aid plan for Somalia currently only 11 percent funded.
Sky News
03-04-2025
- General
- Sky News
Emergency appeal launched for Myanmar as more than 2,800 killed in earthquake
An emergency appeal has been launched after the 7.7 magnitude earthquake which struck Myanmar last week. More than 2,800 people were killed by the quake and its aftershocks on Friday, with thousands more injured and buildings in the worst hit areas in ruins. It is thought the actual number of dead could be much higher. Today, the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has launched an appeal to raise funds for those impacted. DEC charities and local partners are already in Myanmar to assist with search and rescue efforts, as well as provide emergency aid. 2:19 Saleh Saeed, committee chief executive, said the devastation from the earthquake "is heart-breaking, with thousands of people suddenly losing loved ones in the most shocking of ways". He said Myanmar was "already in the grip of a severe humanitarian crisis" in the wake of the 2021 military coup, and now "the situation is ever more critical". "We know that money is tight for many people here in the UK as the cost-of-living crisis continues, but if you can, please do donate to support the hundreds of thousands of people, children and families caught up in this deadly disaster," he added. 2:19 Arif Noor, country director of CARE International in Myanmar, added that emergency relief teams "are witnessing complete devastation everywhere we go". "People traumatised by the earthquake are sleeping on the streets, with no clean water or food to eat and nowhere to escape from the heat," he said. "They simply don't know where to turn or where to find safety." It comes after a local in Mandalay - Myanmar's second biggest city - told Sky News that "when we pass near the destructions, the collapsed building or very damaged building, we can smell" dead bodies. "The smell of the dead bodies after four days... it still remains," he said, before adding: "For the social assistance association... they need permission [to give aid] especially from the government. "If they don't have permission, then they cannot do anything." Broadcast appeal films to raise funds to support the charities' responses will air on Sky later today, as well as on BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5. Every pound donated by the British public will be matched by the government through its UK Aid Match scheme, up to the value of £5 million.
Voice of America
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Voice of America
East African leaders call for ceasefire in DRC; humanitarian crisis worsens
East African Community leaders on Wednesday called for an immediate ceasefire in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where government forces are fighting rebel group M23, while aid agencies say the clashes are deepening the already dire humanitarian crisis there. Kenyan President William Ruto led an online meeting for seven of eight of the trade bloc's heads of state. The only member not participating was Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi. In a statement afterward, the leaders called on the warring parties to cease hostilities in eastern Congo and facilitate humanitarian access to the affected areas. The summit also asked the DRC government to protect diplomatic missions in the country, following attacks this week by protesters in the capital, Kinshasa, targeting embassies of several countries presumed to be sympathetic to the M23 rebel group. The Congolese government has accused Rwanda of supporting M23, which this week took control of Goma, the capital of North Kivu province. Witnesses reported seeing bodies in the streets, but local officials have not determined a death toll. The Congolese government said it is fighting to push out the rebels from the city of 2 million. Edgar Githua, an international relations analyst in Nairobi, said animosity between Tshisekedi and Rwandan President Paul Kagame could derail any ceasefire talks. 'There's still a lot of bad blood between DRC and Rwanda on how to approach this issue because DRC believes that these are Rwandese, and Kagame categorically keeps on saying M23 are not Rwandese, these are ethnic Tutsis who are Congolese by citizenship,' Githua said. 'It is only that they share a language with Rwanda. So, this issue of identity is what is ailing this conflict and needs to be addressed deeply.' Meanwhile, aid agencies say these latest clashes have made the dire humanitarian crisis in DRC even worse, as thousands of Goma residents, many of whom were already displaced due to earlier conflict, are forced to flee again. Maina King'ori, the acting country director for CARE International in DRC, told VOA from Goma, 'There's been no electricity supply for the last several days in most parts of Goma. The water system is not functioning; it has been shut down, though slowly coming back in some places, and there has been no internet connectivity in Goma for the last three days. This makes living really difficult.' King'ori urged parties to the conflict to adhere to international humanitarian law and protect civilians. 'Civilians cannot be a target,' he said. 'Civilians are not party to this conflict, yet they're having to bear the immense load. … They're the ones that are having to feel the pain of sleeping outside, of being relocated several times, of losing loved ones.' Democratic Republic of Congo is grappling with a decadeslong crisis that humanitarian agencies say has left over 6 million people displaced, with recent hostilities exacerbating their plight. North Kivu, where Goma is located, hosts over 2.7 million internally displaced people, according to CARE International.
