December 01, 2017

Highlights

Continued armed group attacks result in displacement and insecurity across the region

Multiple food security analyses anticipate that many households in northeastern Nigeria will face an elevated risk of acute food insecurity through mid-2018

Transport delays continue to disrupt humanitarian distributions to northeast Nigeria

KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Persistent attacks against civilians are a major concern for humanitarian organizations. During the week of November 19, media reported that violence in Nigeria’s Adamawa State resulted in the deaths of 90 people, including an attack on November 21 in Adamawa’s town of Mubi that resulted in nearly 60 deaths, as well as an armed group attempt to gain control of Borno State’s Magumeri town that resulted in the deaths of at least three civilians on November 25.

Borno State Ministry of Health (SMoH) officials have not recorded a cholera-associated death since October 11. Health officials identified only eight suspected new cases of cholera between November 18 and 24. Relief organizations, including USAID/OFDA partners, continue to conduct prevention and treatment activities in affected areas.

The USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and an updated Cadre Harmonisé (CH) report—a tool used in West Africa for the classification and quantification of food insecurity—anticipate that below-average harvests and high food prices will result in many households in Nigeria’s Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states continuing to rely heavily on humanitarian assistance through mid-2018.

Both food security analyses report that many poor and displaced households in northeast Nigeria will face Crisis—IPC 3—levels of acute food insecurity through May 2018; humanitarian assistance is preventing a deterioration to Emergency—IPC 4—levels of acute food insecurity for some populations.4 Households in inaccessible areas will face an elevated risk of Famine—IPC 5—through mid-2018, according to the reports.

NIGERIA

Ongoing attacks continue to result in displacement and insecurity in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states. On November 21, an individual detonated a person-borne improvised explosive device in a mosque in Adamawa State’s town of Mubi, resulting in nearly 60 deaths, while another attack resulted in the deaths of more than 30 cattle herders on the same day, international media report. Media reports additionally indicate that attacks by suspected Boko Haram militants on November 18, 19, and 23 in Adamawa and Borno resulted in at least 15 civilian deaths. On November 25, militants attempted to gain control of Magumeri town, which is approximately 50 miles from the state’s capital city of Maiduguri. Government of Nigeria military personnel had repelled the assault on Magumeri as of November 26; media reports indicate that the assault resulted in at least three civilian deaths.

Prolonged conflict in northeast Nigeria has severely disrupted livelihood activities and undermined food security, according to FEWS NET. Although most of Nigeria will likely reap average to above-average harvests in late 2017, production in the northeast will be significantly below average. Elevated staple food prices—often more than 150 percent higher than October 2015 levels in the northeast—also limit access to food in markets. FEWS NET anticipates that the limited harvest yields and poor market conditions will result in many households in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states continuing to rely heavily on humanitarian assistance through mid-2018.

With support from the international community, the GoN released an updated CH report in early November. The analysis indicated that approximately 2.6 million people will face Crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity through the end of 2017 in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe. The total does not reflect the food security situation faced by populations living in four Borno local government areas (LGAs), which were inaccessible due to insecurity. The CH analysis expects this figure to increase to approximately 3.7 million people during the 2018 June–August lean season.

Delays at the Port of Lagos, poor road conditions, and flooding continue to disrupt the transportation of food commodities to communities in northeast Nigeria, according to USAID partner the World Food Program (WFP). The UN agency is exploring potential substitute routes, successfully transferring 20 supply containers through the Port of Onne in southeast Nigeria.

WFP reached more than 1.1 million people in Adamawa, Borno, and Yobe states with emergency food and nutrition assistance in October 2017; of these beneficiaries, 130,000 children ages 6–23 months and 115,000 pregnant and lactating women received specialized, nutritious foods. In addition, USAID/FFP non-governmental organization (NGO) partners reached more than 761,300 people across Borno and Yobe with either in-kind or market-based emergency food assistance in October.

The Food Security Sector Working Group—the coordinating body for food security activities in Nigeria, comprising UN agencies, NGOs, and other stakeholders—reports that humanitarian actors, including USAID partners, reached approximately 2.5 million people with emergency food assistance in October.

As of November 5, SMoH officials had not reported a cholera-related death in Borno since October 11; however, ongoing cholera and hepatitis E virus outbreaks continue to pose a health risk for people in Borno State. From November 18–24, SMoH officials reported eight new, suspected cholera cases in Borno, including seven in Jere LGA and one in Guzamala LGA. Between mid-August and November 24, SMoH authorities reported a total of approximately 5,350 suspected and confirmed cholera cases, including 61 related deaths. While cholera transmission has declined significantly since late October, the overall case fatality rate remains at 1.1 percent, exceeding the UN World Health Organization (WHO) emergency threshold of 1 percent.

Health and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) actors, including USAID/OFDA partners, continue to maintain response activities commensurate with the level of cholera transmission and are scaling down interventions deemed no longer necessary. Relief organizations continue to operate cholera treatment centers, conduct social mobilization campaigns addressing cholera prevention and WASH best practices, and prepare for the vaccination campaign scheduled to begin in early December.

Hepatitis E virus transmission remains ongoing in Kala/Balge LGA’s Rann town, according to the Borno SMoH. From February 20–November 20, health actors confirmed 185 hepatitis E virus infections and at least eight related deaths across eight Borno LGAs, including Chibok, Dikwa, Kala/Balge, Konduga, Mafa, Mobbar, Monguno, and Ngala. Ngala is the most-affected LGA, representing nearly 53 percent of all confirmed cases and four of the eight deaths.

Health and WASH sector working group members were coordinating to scale up related prevention and response activities, such as latrine desludging and social mobilization, to raise public awareness of the outbreak and prevention strategies, as of November 28. In addition, USAID/OFDA partner WHO is working to strengthen the surveillance structure to enable coordinated, weekly reporting of cases from health care facilities in Rann.

On November 19 and 20, the Nigeria Bi-National Commission, a forum founded by the U.S. Government (USG) and Government of Nigeria (GoN) in 2010 to facilitate bilateral engagement on issues of mutual importance, convened in Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja. Participants, including high-level U.S. Department of State officials and USAID’s Nigeria Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART), discussed security, economic, and governance topics, as well as the ongoing humanitarian response in the northeast and the transition to early recovery. During the forum, USG representatives committed to continuing the provision of life-saving assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host community populations through USAID and State/PRM. USG representatives also indicated plans to support increased food production and distribution, assist in the restoration of local governance, support voluntary returns of conflict-affected people to areas of origin, and bolster the GoN effort to improve security in affected areas. USG representatives also encouraged the GoN to increase their humanitarian contributions to the northeast response while ensuring close coordination with international response actors and civil society organizations, as well as support international response efforts through the timely processing of international NGO registrations, humanitarian aid worker visas, and customs clearances for relief commodities.

CAMEROON

The level of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Far North declined slightly among host communities from nearly 2 percent in 2016 to 1.1 percent in 2017, according to the latest survey conducted by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Government of the Republic of Cameroon (GoRC) Ministry of Health. Despite the decline, SAM levels in Far North remain above the WHO alert threshold. Between January and October, UNICEF admitted nearly 42,100 children ages six months to five years for treatment of SAM in Cameroon.

In mid-October, GoRC and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) held a joint workshop to launch the implementation process for the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of IDPs in Africa, also known as the Kampala Convention, in Cameroon. The workshop included training for government officials responsible for drafting the new law and provided an opportunity for substantive planning dialogue to occur. GoRC officials will determine the appropriate legal framework to facilitate the adoption of the Kampala Convention, which will ultimately serve as Cameroon’s national protection and assistance framework for IDPs and host community members.

CHAD

The Government of Chad’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), in coordination with UNICEF and WHO, completed the seventh polio vaccination campaign for 2017 from November 10–12, reaching nearly 2.4 million children ages five years and younger in 11 of Chad’s 23 regions. While health actors have not recorded a polio case in Chad since 2012, the GoN reported cases of polio in Nigeria’s bordering Borno State in 2016, raising concern about potential transmission to Chad, particularly due to regional population movements. The MoPH and relief agencies continue to emphasize the need for strengthened routine vaccination campaigns as the primary method of polio prevention.

NIGER

Forecasted agricultural output in Niger appears promising for the 2017 season, with preliminary results projecting that nationwide domestic production will increase by 14 percent compared to the previous five-year average, according to FEWS NET. Despite the general positive trend in Niger, insecurity continues to disrupt livelihood activities and limit humanitarian access in parts of Niger’s conflict-affected Diffa Region where food insecurity remains prevalent. An assessment by local authorities recorded a 50 percent decline in cereal output across 68 percent of the 606 villages in Diffa’s southern areas during the 2017 farming season, according to the UN. In addition, the fodder deficit is likely to surpass 2 million metric tons in the region, affecting more than 60 percent of livestock herds in Diffa.

Most areas of southern Diffa are experiencing Stressed—IPC 2—levels of food insecurity, while the southern border is facing Crisis levels; current projections indicate that all areas of Diffa experiencing IPC 2 levels will deteriorate to IPC 3 by May 2018, FEWS NET reports.

Between July and September 2017, a USAID/FFP NGO partner provided emergency food vouchers to nearly 3,200 vulnerable households—including host community, refugee, internally displaced, and returnee families—in Diffa. The NGO also reached all beneficiary households with educational sessions on dietary diversity and infant and young child feeding. These activities contributed to improved household food security: at baseline in July, approximately 45 percent of beneficiary households reported that they faced moderate or severe hunger; during post-distribution monitoring in September, however, only 16 percent of households reported moderate or severe hunger.

Gender-based violence (GBV)—including rape, domestic abuse, forced and child marriage, and sexual exploitation and abuse—remains a pervasive issue among vulnerable populations, including female IDPs and refugees, in Diffa, according to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA). The UN agency recently facilitated a rapid assessment of GBV-related needs in Diffa among displaced women and girls, in coordination with the Protection Cluster. The cluster has also developed, validated, and disseminated standard operating procedures for GBV prevention and response in the region, including referral systems. To date, protection organizations have provided training in Diffa on the components of a holistic GBV response for more than 1,200 state and non-state service providers, such as judicial, legal, medical, psychosocial, and security professionals.

In FY 2017, USAID/OFDA provided more than $895,600 to two partners to support protection activities in Diffa, including prevention and response interventions to address GBV and child protection needs.