World News in Brief: Sudan aid latest, toxic air in Pakistan, Ukraine and Syria updates

This article is published in association with United Nations.

A convoy of trucks from the World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday crossed into war-torn Sudan from Chad through the crucial Adre crossing, headed for Zamzam IDP Camp in North Darfur where famine conditions have already been confirmed. 

The trucks are carrying food and nutrition supplies for about 12,500 people in the striken camp, and the agency said it was determined to provide the life-saving aid “safely and quickly”, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, briefing journalists in New York.

“WFP underscores that the Adre corridor is a vital lifeline to get urgent assistance into the hands of desperate families across the Darfur region,” he added.

Food for nearly 500,000

“Through this crossing, WFP has now transported over 5,600 metric tonnes of food and nutrition supplies – which is enough for nearly half a million people – and that has gone in just three months since 20 August.”

He said it was crucial the crossing remains “usable and open for humanitarians to ramp up aid and get a steady supply of aid to communities facing extreme hunger.”

WFP said it was also using a network of local retailers under contract with WFP to get aid into ZamZam which has allowed the emergency food agency to reach around 100,000 people out of the 180,000 they hope to reach.   

Pakistan: Toxic air threatens more than 11 million under five in Punjab

Toxic smog is threatening the lives of more than 11 million under-fives in the most populous province in Pakistan, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday.

“As smog continues to persist in Punjab province, I am extremely concerned about the well-being of young children who are forced to breathe polluted, toxic air,” said Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan.

Record-breaking air pollution

This past week, air pollution levels in the provincial capital Lahore and another major city, Multan, broke records, clocking in at over 100 times the air quality guidelines issued by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Hundreds have been hospitalized including dozens of children, and the air pollution is so severe it is now visible from space, according to media reports.

Mr. Fadil said that prior to the record-breaking levels of air pollution, roughly 12 per cent of deaths in under-fives were due to air pollution.

“The impact of this year’s extraordinary smog will take time to assess but we know that doubling and tripling the amount of pollution in the air will have devastating effects, particularly on children and pregnant women,” he added.

Millions out of school

Meanwhile, schools in smog-affected areas have been closed until mid-month to protect children. However, education is now disrupted for some 16 million children at time when Pakistan is already facing an “education emergency”, with more than 26 million boys and girls out of school.

“Every child has the right to clean air. Children’s health and right to an education must be protected. UNICEF calls on the Government of Pakistan to fulfill these rights for every child,” said Mr. Fadil.

UNICEF is supporting awareness measures as part of the Government of Punjab’s official plan to reduce the smog.  

“Reducing emissions from agricultural and industrial activities and encouraging clean and sustainable energy and transportation initiatives are no longer just climate change mitigation strategies, they are critical to protect children’s health today,” said Mr. Fadil.

More than 100 civilian casualties in Ukraine since Thursday

Ukrainian authorities on Monday reported that there have been more than 100 civilian casualties across the country over the past five days, including children, alongside widespread infrastructure damage.

UN aid coordination office OCHA said that a deadly attack in Zaporizhzhia on Saturday – the second in five days – caused dozens of casualties.

“Authorities also report an increase in drone strikes in the south of the country, especially in the regions of Odesa, Mykolayiv, and Kherson, leading to scores of civilian casualties and damage to civilian infrastructure, which include heating and gas facilities,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.

UN support

Aid workers have provided hot meals, materials to cover damaged windows, blankets, solar lamps, and hygiene kits, as well as cash and psychosocial support. 

In some frontline communities, basic food is becoming scarce as many shops have stopped functioning, OCHA said. 

To address this, the World Food Programme (WFP) has supplied ovens, dough-kneading machines and generators, among others, to 14 bakeries in six of the war-affected regions of Ukraine.

© UNICEF/Fouad Choufany

Families wait to cross the Masnaa border from Lebanon into Syria.

Syria crisis ‘deepening and widening’, say senior humanitarians

Senior UN humanitarians warned on Monday that the Syria crisis is “deepening and widening”, with more than 500,000 seeking refuge there after fleeing the war in Lebanon, adding to 16.7 million who have already received support. 

In a joint statement, Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Syria, Adam Abdelmoula, and Regional Humanitarian Coordinator Ramanathan Balakrishnan pointed out that two in three people in Syria need assistance. 

Over 75 per cent of the new arrivals – since war between Israel and Hezbollah fighters escalated in September – are women, children and people with special needs.

“These people have been driven to seek refuge in a country that has already been reeling from over a decade long, protracted humanitarian crisis,” the officials said.

Services already ‘at breaking point’

“Most of the new arrivals are being hosted with relatives and friends in communities that are already struggling. They are accessing services offered through the existing humanitarian response mechanisms which are already stretched to their breaking point.”

A $4.07 billion Syria Humanitarian Response Plan is only 27.5 per cent funded. Since the launch of the Emergency Appeal in September seeking an additional $324 million, “only a meagre $32 million” has been secured – a figure which includes a $12 million allocation from the UN emergency fund, CERF.

They urged the donor community to significantly and urgently increase its support for Syria’s humanitarian response. 

“The costs of inaction would be enormous and will go beyond deepening human suffering, in terms of increase in instability in the region, migration outflows beyond the region and deepening of the conflict,” they stressed.