GENEVA / MALI

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) today renewed an appeal for millions of dollars to help meet the needs of tens of thousands of Malian refugees and almost 300,000 internally displaced people. CH UNTV

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:07
• Production Date: 19 April 2013
• Asset Language: Original
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND - UNICEF; UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR; WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION - WHO
• Subject Topical: HUMANITARIAN RELIEF; REFUGEES; DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: MALI
• MAMS Id: U130419e

Description

STORY: GENEVA / MALI
TRT: 2.07
SOURCE: CH UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 19 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE

Shotlist

FILE – RECENT, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

1. Wide shot, Palais des Nations

19 APRIL 2013, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

2. Wide shot, conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson, UNICEF:
“The damage done in the north has been extensive. Most schools have been looted and infrastructure damaged. Half of the health facilities are not working. Water supply is poor and of poor quality. The vast majority of teachers and health workers are still not at their posts, especially in rural areas.”
4. Close up, journalists
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson, UNICEF:
“More than 300,000 children have been out of school for over a year. A measles outbreak has seen double the number of cases reported, and far more deaths in the first quarter of this year than the same period last year. No cholera cases have been reported so far, but the capacity to treat an outbreak has serious gaps.”
6. Tilt up, journalists
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson, UNICEF:
“All of this happened, is happening, against a backdrop of a chronic nutritional crisis that kills children every day, the vast majority of them in the south of the country, where 90 percent of the population lives. UNICEF estimates that 210,000 children will suffer from life threatening malnutrition this year, and 450,000 will suffer a less severe, but also debilitating form of malnutrition.”
8. Med shot, journalist
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Marixie Mercado, Spokesperson,UNICEF:
“The crisis is far from over, access and security remain tenuous, the humanitarian needs are immense, and funding is a constraint.”
10. Med shot, journalists
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for UNHCR:
“We need 144 million dollars to cover the basic protection and assistance needs. So far we have received only 32 percent of this amount. The funding we are seeking is to allow for expansion and construction of transit centres, provision of supplementary and therapeutic food shelters and other relief items and delivery of basic health services.”
12. Med shot, journalist
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Adrian Edwards, Spokesperson for UNHCR:
“Currently there are more than 175,000 Malian refugees in surrounding countries, the majority of which are in Mauritania, 75,850 people, 49,000 in Burkina Faso, and around 50,000 in Niger.”
14. Wide shot, conference room

Storyline

The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) has appealed for 82 million US dollars to meet emergency needs in Mali for 2013, and has received just over 20 million, leaving a funding gap of 76 percent.

Marixie Mercado, spokeswoman for UNICEF, warned journalists that “the crisis is far from over, access and security remain tenuous, the humanitarian needs are immense, and funding is a constraint.”

The damage done, she said, has been extensive. Most schools have been looted, and infra-structure damaged. Half of health facilities are not working. Water supply is poor and of poor quality.

More than 300,000 children have been out of school for over a year.

UNICEF is not the only UN agency struggling for cash.

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) renewed an appeal today (19 April) for millions of dollars to help meet the needs of tens of thousands of Malian refugees and almost 300,000 internally displaced people.

Spokesman Adrian Edwards told journalists in Geneva that UNHCR needs 144 million US dollars to cover basic protection and assistance needs, and has so far only received 32 percent of that amount.

Edwards said the agency needed this money to provide food, shelter, health-care, water and sanitation and education.

There are currently more than 175,000 Malian refugees in surrounding countries. This includes 75,850 refugees in Mauritania, over 49,000 in Burkina Faso and some 50,000 in Niger. UNHCR expects the number to swell by 45,500 over coming months.