The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic is severely hampering humanitarian operations. Border closures, reduced import/export and travel restrictions are limiting the movement of humanitarians and the availability of food, equipment, relief items and other essential needs.
In countries where the world’s most vulnerable rely on humanitarian aid and supplies to fight the pandemic, cancelled flights and disrupted supply chains hit disproportionately hard.
The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is helping to make sure that humanitarian operations can continue and aid workers are equipped to respond to the humanitarian consequences of the pandemic in some of the world’s most severe crises.
Of the US$ 95 million that CERF has allocated to UN agencies to kick-start efforts towards the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP), $40 million was allocated to support the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in establishing essential international air services and supply chains in the absence of commercial service providers. These services will benefit the entire global humanitarian community, and complement WFP’s ongoing in-country UN Humanitarian Air Services (UNHAS) operations to sustain existing humanitarian operations and scale up new relief efforts.
This CERF funding enables WFP to carry out passenger air services to transport aid workers, conduct medical evacuations and transport relief items, including health supplies and equipment. Along with funding from other donors, CERF is also crucial in setting up vital logistics networks across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe to overcome the lack of commercial cargo flights and rapidly mobilize additional support.
In addition to CERF’s global allocations contributing to the pandemic response worldwide, the fund has traditionally supported WFP’s efforts to provide logistics and air services to the broader humanitarian community in a number of crisis-affected countries. Since January 2020, CERF has allocated over $7 million for common logistics operations in support of humanitarian emergencies in Chad, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, and Syria.
With the closure of borders and air traffic across many countries, these services are now becoming the last resort of providing air transport for aid workers and humanitarian supplies to continue serving millions of people in need, especially in remote locations.
Air services like these are the backbone of making sure urgent aid gets to people in need. They remain one of the key elements of the global appeal. Without them, the global response could stutter to a halt.
Original source: CERF
Published on 29 April 2020
