The United Nations Children’s Fund-UNICEF warns it may not be able to provide humanitarian support to South Sudanese refugees living in Uganda if its 36 million dollar appeal is not met. UNICEF’S chief of communications in Uganda made the remarks after receiving a donation of one million Euros – just over a million dollars – from The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid division.
UNICEF says the humanitarian emergency in Uganda is growing. And it insists the donation from The European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid is significant but not enough.
About 144,000 South Sudanese refugees live in camps in northern Uganda. Of these 65% are children. The one million euro contribution will partly be used in health programs to tackle nutrition, immunisation and water and sanitation issues. However not all children will benefit.
Uganda is home to over 400,000 refugees, mostly South Sudanese and Congolese. The World Food Program just resumed relief supplies to South Sudan refugees in February after it had run out of funds.
Both UNICEF and the WFP say they are in critical need of emergency support since refugee numbers in Uganda keep swelling.
