Earthquake response: Humanitarian situation report: 22 - 28 March 2023

Highlights

• Ongoing displacement continues to raise child protection and genderbased violence concerns, including sexual exploitation and abuse. Over-crowding, lack of privacy and insufficient quality and quantity of gender and age- appropriate facilities, including WASH, represent significant risks for women and girls in particular.
• UNICEF WASH interventions include age and gender considerations throughout the design, implementation and monitoring phases. In northwest (NW) Syria, UNICEF is prioritising the involvement of women, girls, men and boys in WASH programming, including improving safe access to facilities (such as reducing walking distances to water points) and designing facilities that respond to specific age and gender needs, including menstrual hygiene management.
• UNICEF and partners supported 101,975 children (50,157 girls, 51,818 boys) to access formal or non-formal education, including early learning, self-learning and remedial classes. In NW Syria, UNICEF partners also reached 7,186 children (4,080 girls, 3,106 boys) with school-based psychosocial supported programmes in non-formal settings.
• UNICEF reached 19,484 children (including 49 children with disabilities) in Aleppo, Lattakia and Hama with clothing, blankets and recreational material and ensured they have access to play material throughout their stay in collective shelters.
• As of 28 March, 67,277 highly vulnerable people in affected areas of Aleppo and Hama received emergency cash assistance to support their basic needs and mitigate the economic shock created by the earthquakes. In addition, UNICEF supported 1,752 pregnant and lactating women and caregivers of children under two years old in NW Syria. The cash response is being scaled up through ongoing registration and identification of another 140,000 affected families in Aleppo, Lattakia and Hama.

Author(s)

UNICEF Syria

Publication date

March 2023

Languages

English