The evidence shows that we must invest in gender equality in health systems to prepare for and respond to the next pandemic. The glimmers of success in COVID-19 built on previous investments in women health workers, their skills, and equality in health systems.
The number of acutely malnourished children admitted to CARE-supported health facilities has increased by 60 per cent in the first four months of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Health facilities admitted 3,501 children with severe malnutrition so far compared to 2,155 admitted during the same period in 2021.
CARE is concerned by the number of children who are showing up at health facilities emaciated with the current drought leaving families not knowing where their next meal will come from.
When the fighting in Ukraine started on February 24, 2022 it was clear that it would results in a human catastrophe. Millions of people left their homes, critical infrastructure was destroyed, whole cities were left without food, water and electricity, people lost their lives. Today, more than 6.4 million people have fled the country and over 8 million people have been displaced within Ukraine. As is often the case, women and children are more deeply affected by crisis , making up 90% of refugees and 63% of those who are displaced within Ukraine. Three months into the conflict, CARE’s staff and partners inside Ukraine and the surrounding regions share insights from the frontlines.
As the drought ravages Somalia, 420,000 children are at risk of dropping out of school as livelihoods are completely wiped out and the students are drawn into the daily struggle of getting food. Of those children, 189,000 are girls who face the risk of retrogressive practices such as early marriage and Female Genital Mutilation. The 231,000 boys risk recruitment into dangerous and illegal activities further jeopardizing not only their lives but also the security situation of the nation.
More than 6.5 million people have fled Ukraine due to the war. CARE and its partners are responding with much-needed cash assistance, food, and shelter.
CARE Canada is excited to announce a new pilot program that aims to bridge the work between humanitarian and development projects towards more sustainable outcomes. One of the first of its type, the nexus project Lifesaving Health, WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) and Protection Assistance for Crisis-affected IDPs and Host Communities in the Eastern Zone of Tigray Region will help to bridge the crossover between humanitarian and development programming towards more sustainable outcomes.
Together with our trusted local partners, CARE supports people in and around Ukraine with food, hygiene packages and safe shelter.
Lyudmyla Yankina is a volunteer in Kyiv. She is trained as a nurse and has now made it her mission to help people living in areas that are completely cut off from supplies.
Dr. Ilhas Altinci with CARE Turkey and Nicole Tobin with CARE Canada address the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on the need for investment in global vaccine equity.
