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The European Union has taken further action to assist Chad in addressing the urgent needs of the influx of people fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan. An additional €10 million in humanitarian aid has been allocated to support the country during this challenging time.

This funding is in addition to the €7 million previously pledged at a high-level event held in Geneva last month, which was specifically designated for humanitarian efforts in Chad in response to the crisis in Sudan. The newly allocated funds will be directed towards addressing the most pressing needs of the refugee populations, particularly women and children, many of whom are pregnant or lactating, and living in extremely precarious conditions.

During a call with the President of the Transition, S.E. M. Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, made the announcement regarding the additional financial support.

As a result of these efforts, the total funding mobilized for interventions in Chad since the onset of the Sudanese crisis now surpasses €18.6 million. Furthermore, in 2023, €30.5 million has been mobilized to support the most vulnerable individuals in other provinces of Chad. The European Union remains committed to providing aid and support to those in need during this humanitarian crisis.

In 2017 a pioneering humanitarian drone corridor was established in Malawi, with a dedicated airspace covering over five thousand square kilometres. Since the corridor’s creation, multiple projects have explored drone technology’s use in tackling the challenges of health supply chain logistics in a developing country. We spoke with Tautvydas (Tautis) Juskauskas, a Drones and Data Specialist with UNICEF Malawi, to find out how multiple partners came together to create this pioneering initiative and how it’s changed the humanitarian aid situation in Malawi.

The First Steps To Establishing The Corridor

Around 2015/16, UNICEF noticed an increase in the interest of using drones for humanitarian use amongst NGOS, and commercial companies seeking an opportunity for their use in the humanitarian sector. The agency soon came to realise it could be a key technology for addressing long standing issues in development logistics, especially service delivery in health supply chains. So in 2019, a collaboration between the local UNICEF country office and the Malawian government established Africa’s first humanitarian drone corridor to start testing the technology.

‘It was relatively easy to get the corridor established in comparison to other countries, as the Malawian government was keen to test this new tech, and they saw a potential benefit given accessibility and health supply chain challenges,’ says Tautis.

Of course, there were challenges to solve along the way. Heavy testing was needed in the early days of the corridor, with the UNICEF office much more active in providing admin and support.

‘We experienced a lot of drone technical difficulties, which had proven the case that the corridor was much needed to test the tech before it matures. Now it has matured more, we get much fewer tests and more drone delivery operations across the country.’

‘This started to open opportunities to really benefit from drone use,’ Tautis continues. ‘From a regulatory point of view it made it a very safe and enabling environment for drone companies, researchers, scientists and development actors to come to Malawi and test the technology in the corridor as a technological sandbox.’

UNICEF’s role has primarily been in administering the drone corridor, and ensuring that all projects are subject to regulatory clearance. Many NGOS and development agencies quickly approach UNICEF to explore the opportunities to test drone technology offered by the corridor. USAID began a donor-supported project to support the delivery of diagnostic samples in northern Malawi, whilst UNICEF, with support from the UK’s FCDO, helped embed the operations in South Malawi, continued to this day by Village Reach. The German development agency GIZ also partnered with a German startup, Wingcopter, who are beginning operations in Central Malawi to deliver medical supplies.

‘We have been very closely involved in the USAID project too, as one of our financial supporters and technical support,’ says Tautis. ‘The corridor has been an enabler as it has helped many partners become more comfortable with drone technology, which has led to more investment. As of today, we have seven or eight districts in Malawi receiving drone deliveries on an almost daily basis.’

Deploying Drones To Help Supply Chain Logistics and Emergency Responses

With the multiple projects underway, Tautis explains that drone technology is now being used to help in two main areas. 

‘Firstly, we use drones for strengthening health supply operations, specifically for making Last Mile delivery. The drones help support the delivery of vaccines, diagnostic samples and general health supplies to remote medical facilities and community health centres.’

‘The technology is also being used for emergency preparedness and response, by mapping geographical areas and also helping with any search and rescue efforts. For example, aerial imagery has been used to assist with flood modelling or assessing damage of floods and other natural disasters in Malawi’.

Since UNICEF entered into collaboration with the government of Malawi, multiple departments have been involved in building the capacity of logistics and operational use, from the Ministry of Health to the Department of Climate Change and Meteorological Services, and the Department of Disaster Management Affairs.

‘The technology also provides a much more efficient way to monitor climate change, and helps to mitigate risks to responders during emergency situations.’

Flying The Last Mile To Improved Patient Care

The corridor quickly started seeing successes with improvement in the logistics of health supply chains and solving last mile issues. Regional health centres have seen a reduction in out-of-stock health supplies, who can now receive an order in one or two days, a reduction from around one week before. Not only has this made a great difference to the availability of certain health supplies, but also with patient diagnoses.

‘In North Malawi, the turnaround time of diagnostic samples has been reduced significantly. It would have taken around eight weeks from sample collection to issuing a test result to the patient. This was reduced to two weeks,’ says Tautis. ‘With these logistical improvements, you can improve the efficiency of treatment of the patients, such as those with conditions like TB or HIV, which is very prevalent in Malawi.’

‘The efficiency, the speed, is the key thing.’

Establishing Drone Technology In New Territories

With UNICEF’s involvement in the development and ongoing administration of the corridor, there are some key considerations that Tautis suggests for any territory wanting to explore the use of drone technology.

‘It’s very important to understand the root causes of the supply chain issues, so we are providing the appropriate remedy and are not a ‘solution-before-problem’. That takes time and requires a lot of investment. Drone technology is something that’s seen as very new and compelling, but there needs to be a more systematic approach to understand the problems and if drones are the right solutions.’

With the number of private suppliers entering the space, it’s also important to choose the right partner to supply the technology service.

‘Offering competition is great, so everyone is improving their level of service, and everyone is given a fair chance to participate. UNICEF has established very detailed guidance on the procurement of drone delivery services, which enables us to fairly select partners and private firms, and also clearly manages what is needed from the private sector.’

The final consideration is building network capacity, from the central government through to local communities, that helps with operations but also navigate regulations.
‘Regulation has been one of the key roadblocks, so it’s not seen as only a drone project but how to make it work in the local context.’

The Future Of The Corridor

So what’s next for the humanitarian drone corridor in Malawi?

‘Next is really localising the service, making sure there are lots of local private firms that start offering drone delivery as a service, and that ultimately drives the long term cost of drone delivery down and increases the sustainability and local ownership,’ explains Tautis. ‘That’s why the African Drone and Data Academy (ADDA) is an important program, because it develops local skills and capacity, and also encourages young Malawians to start offering those services to the government.’

UNICEF now plans to continue supporting Malawi with the expansion of the technology across the entire country.

Photo courtesy of UNICEF Malawi

Despite the reported rains in most parts of the country in the last Dekad of March, the rains are yet to impact on production systems. The drought situation thus remains critical in twenty-two (21) of the 23 ASAL counties during the month of March 2023. The number of people in need of assistance still stands at 4.4 million currently following short rains (SRA) 2022 food security assessment. Two (2) counties namely Marsabit and Turkana remain in Emergency drought phase. Eight (8) counties namely Isiolo, Mandera, Kajiado, Samburu, Tana River, Wajir, Kilifi and Kitui are in Alarm drought phase. Eleven (11) counties including; Baringo, Embu, Garissa, Lamu, Makueni, Laikipia, Narok, Nyeri, Meru, Kwale and Taita Taveta are in the Alert drought phase. While two (2) counties; West Pokot and Tharaka Nithi are in Normal drought phase. Acute malnutrition has also been noted across the counties with 970,214 children aged 6 to 59 months and 142,179 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers are currently malnourished acutely in need of treatment. Figure 1.0 shows drought phase classification. The reported rains in most of the Arid counties are associated with flush floods which had negative impacts on the local livelihoods and critical facilities like roads.

Source-  NDMA (Click here for report)

WHO has donated four additional ambulances for medical evacuation and repatriation operations from Ukraine to Poland. WHO funding has enabled the Humanosh Foundation to purchase previously owned vans, which are subsequently converted into emergency ambulances. These retrofitted units are a critical element in the medical evacuation operation, known as medevac. Following the handover ceremony in Rzeszów, they will soon be deployed to the field, reinforcing medevac convoys and saving the lives of Ukrainian patients. The increased fleet of ambulances will allow the transport of more patients from further areas of Ukraine.

In Ukraine, the inoperability of medical facilities, an increasing number of civilian casualties and months of disruption of services for patients with severe chronic illnesses have made clear the need to refer and evacuate patients for life-saving treatment in other European countries, including Poland.

For the full article, click here.

Estimated Total Population: 294 million (World Bank)

Acutely Food Insecure Population (high level): 46.3 million (IPC 3+ crisis or worse)

Number of Refugees: 4.5 million (UNHCR)

Internally Displaced People: 13.5 million (UNHCR)

Estimated acutely malnourished children (under 5 years): 1.8 million (Somalia), 1.4 million (South Sudan), 884k (Kenya) and 104K (Uganda)

Estimated severely acute malnourished children (under 5 years): 514k (Somalia), 346k (South Sudan), 223k (Kenya) and 16.5k (Uganda).

WHO steering 4 health clusters and coordinating 262 partners in service of 21.5 million people (Ethiopia, Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia)

Attacks on health care: 73 attacks, 113 injuries, 93 deaths (Jan 21-Dec 22 in 3 countries)

Under- five mortality rate (per 1,000 live births, IGME 2020): Somalia 115, South Sudan 98, Sudan 57

Ongoing outbreaks as of 16 December 2022: Measles (6 countries), Cholera (4 countries), Yellow Fever (2 countries), Mpox, Hepatitis E, Polio, Dengue, Anthrax, Malaria, Ebola disease (caused by Sudan virus)

Funding requirements: US$ 178 million (Jan-Dec 2023)

The Greater Horn of Africa is one of the world’s most vulnerable geographical areas in relation to impacts of climate change and is currently experiencing one of the worst food insecurity situations in decades. It is estimated that more than 46 million people are in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 3 or above.

The sub-region is home to a large pastoralist population with significant vulnerabilities. Currently, the region, which includes Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda is experiencing rising food insecurity due to extreme climate events such as drought and flooding, as well as conflict, socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, and volatile food and fuel prices, all of which are contributing to the creation of a huge humanitarian crisis. Regardless of future rainfall performance, the recovery period from a drought this severe will take years, with extremely high humanitarian needs even set to increase in 2023.

For the full article, click here.

Airmen assigned to the 39th Logistics Readiness Squadron (LRS) Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) Flight work around the clock to support the global rush of humanitarian aid and disaster relief aircraft transiting through Incirlik Air Base.

Since the Feb. 6 earthquakes occurred, POL Airmen have supplied more than 1 million gallons of jet fuel distributed for humanitarian efforts, during which more than 4,000 aircraft sorties carrying over 18,000 tons of cargo have transited through the airfield of Incirlik AB. This fuel enables the U.S. military to rapidly respond with critically needed capabilities and life-saving equipment to aid areas the government of Türkiye deems necessary.

For the full article, click here.

A total of 282 United Nations trucks transporting aid for earthquake victims in northwest Syria have passed through three border crossings with Türkiye over the past two weeks, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday.

Seventeen trucks arrived in the region that day via two crossings – Bab Al-Hawa and Bab Al-Salaam – carrying aid provided by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR; the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

For the full article, click here.

HLA is supporting the collection of logistics and supply chain needs assessment information and the dissemination of knowledge. If you are currently in the earthquake affected areas and/or have information to share with local and international networks, please get in touch via this channel, our social media channels or via email to info@humanitarianlogistics.org

Turkish diplomat quotes-

"Dost" is a common word in Turkish and Hindi... We have a Turkish proverb: "Dost kara günde belli olur" (a friend in need is a friend indeed). Thank you very much

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Indian rescue and medical personnel have been sent to Turkey. 

According to the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), a meeting was conducted where it was determined that the NDRF's search and rescue teams, medical teams, and relief supplies would be sent out right away in collaboration with the Turkish government. 

Two teams of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF), each with 100 members with trained dogs, are prepared to be flown to the earthquake-affected area for search and rescue operations, according to a statement from the PMO. These teams will include specially trained dog squads as well as the required equipment.

For the full article, click here.