This is a plea for the Central African Republic. The Central African Republic (CAR) today finds itself in a state of chronic medical emergency. Five separate retrospective mortality surveys, carried out by MSF and other researchers, in prefectures accounting for the majority of the population, show excess mortality above what is considered to be the “emergency threshold.”
And yet the commitment by the country’s government and by the international community is going in the wrong direction. The government has been decreasing its investments in health, as have international donors, while humanitarian assistance has failed to reduce the widespread medical crisis.
The risk is high that the Central African Republic will become trapped: not considered urgent enough for significant emergency aid; not considered trustworthy enough for meaningful development assistance.
For the sake of CAR’s 4.4 million people, this cannot be allowed to happen. Existing levels of medical assistance are plainly insufficient to the scale of the needs. The country needs more actors conducting larger medical operations that reach more of the population.
In this paper, we outline the experiences, analyses and concerns of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) after 14 years working in the country. The report opens with a summary of the published evidence on CAR’s mortality over the past 18 months by MSF and other researchers. We then analyse the various causes for this before summarising the inadequate existing levels of assistance provided by all the various actors, including firstly the government of CAR, but also the international community including ourselves. We conclude with a call for greater medical assistance to the country.
The Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF) in the Central African Republic (CAR) was critical in 2010 to cover the most immediate assessed needs of about 1.6 million people in the North West, North East and South East of the country. Sustained generous contributions from the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Sweden have allowed further predictability and flexibility, hence relevance of the overall humanitarian response in country. Whether UN agencies or Non governmental organisations, recipient partners have demonstrated strong commitment to address critical needs in most often trying circumstances. The standard allocation process has involved a wide range of stakeholders through the CHF Advisory Board, the Humanitarian Country Team and within the respective clusters.
Central African Republic: Consolidated Appeal 2011 Mid-Year Review
In the midst of a still-fragile regional context, the Central African Republic (CAR) has achieved a significant step towards peace consolidation, with the peaceful holding of national elections in early 2011. In spite of the many claims put forward by the opposition regarding the legitimacy of the parliamentary election results, incumbent President Bozize was re-elected for a second term without major incidents. However, this important achievement has not yet brought the anticipated improvements for the vast majority of the CAR population.
In the north-west where the majority of the internally displaced people are located, little progress has been made towards building an environment conducive to durable returns. Similarly, CAR refugees in both Cameroon and Chad await further guarantees before returning to their home country. Whilst a comprehensive reintegration strategy has been agreed by the Government and its partners, no concrete steps have yet been taken in the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) process, in spite of the strong will of the Government to do so.
At an event held in Bangui on 28 January 2009, the government of the Central African Republic and the humanitarian community launched the country’s Coordinated Aid Programme (CAP) for 2009.
The CAP provides a coherent humanitarian strategy of the Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team to provide life-saving assistance to one million people affected by violent conflict and banditry in northern and southeastern CAR, protect their human rights and help them restart their lives.
Speakers at the official launch emphasized that the ongoing peace progress between the government and militant groups provided a unique opportunity to improve the humanitarian situation. Yet civilians continue to suffer from ongoing fighting, banditry and a lack of schools, hospitals and clean water in one of the world’s poorest countries.
For 2009, 11 UN entities, 5 local and 18 international non-governmental organisations have included 105 projects in the CAP for which they require $116m. Most urgently, $14.3m are needed for ten projects that were ranked as an immediate priority.
Contact:
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
United Nations | Bangui | Central African Republic
Nicolas Rost | rostn@un.org
Gisèle Willybiro | willybiro@un.org
UNDP-CAR launched its first annual report today, providing an accessible, thorough overview of the office’s activities in 2007. The aim of the report is to improve UNDP visibility and transparency at the country office level and to engage donors, partners and the interested public in UNDP’s work in CAR. Continue Reading »
UN Resident Coordinator Toby Lanzer recently published a short article on the situation in CAR in The World Today, a publication of Chatham House in London. The article lays out some of the issues facing the country as it heads into a donor round table meeting in Brussels at the end of October.
Major concerns include continuing violence in the north and north-east, regional tensions and their effects on CAR, as well as the alarming spectre of the country’s mineral wealth getting caught up in surrounding conflicts. Donors, the article concludes, should treat humanitarian aid as a bridge to critical development assistance and investment, and the international community should strive to ensure that regional crises do not spill over more borders and further destabilize the region.
The Humanitarian and Development Partnership Team (HDPT) unites all organizations working to alleviate the humanitarian and development crisis in the Central African Republic: United Nations agencies, the Red Cross Movement, NGOs and other organizations. For more information, visit About HDPT CAR or email us at info[at]hdptcar.net
Interviews with Dr Ione
Dr Ione describes her incredible experiences in the Central African Republic. A thrilling eye-witness account of the country’s history.
