Children in Mauritania

By: reliefweb.int. 

Total people in need: 258,978

Total children (<18) in need: 224,978

Total people to be reached: 113,323

Total children to be reached: 77,089

2019 programme targets:

Nutrition

• 26,930 children under 5 years suffering from SAM admitted for treatment

• 16,234 pregnant and lactating women reached with an integrated package of IYCF services

Health

• 2,846 children aged 6 to 59 months with common childhood diseases reached with appropriate and integrated management of childhood illness services

WASH

• 13,465 children under treatment for SAM accessing safe water for drinking, cooking and hygiene through housewater treatment

• 6,500 children accessing and using appropriate sanitation and hygiene facilities in health and nutrition centres and schools in refugee camps, host communities and villages with high SAM burdens

Child protection

• 8,500 refugee and host community children reached with psychosocial support

• 150 survivors of sexual and genderbased violence reached with gender-based violence response interventions

Education

• 17,000 school-aged boys and girls (3 to 17 years) in the refugee camp and host community affected by humanitarian situations receiving learning materials

• 4,950 out-of-school boys and girls aged 3 to 17 years accessing education

Mauritania is experiencing recurrent cycles of drought that are severely affecting the nutritional health of children. For the second year running, irregular rainfall has negatively impacted crops and pastures, eroding household resilience and capacities to absorb shocks. Over 130,000 children, including nearly 32,000 children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM), and 31,000 pregnant and lactating women, will require nutritional care and treatment in 2019. Twenty-three of Mauritania’s 55 districts are currently experiencing a nutrition emergency,2 and account for three quarters of the country’s total SAM caseload. Only 47 per cent of the populations of these districts have access to drinking water, compared with the national average of 64 per cent.4 Poor hygiene and sanitation practices, high levels of diarrhoea and low vaccination rates are aggravating factors. Given the protracted emergency and deteriorating security situation in the Sahel, over 57,000 Malian refugees—a 10 per cent increase from 2017—60 per cent of whom are children, require access to basic services, including safe water, health care, education and protection. Of the 29,485 school-aged refugee children (3 to 17 years) in the M’Berra refugee camp, only 8,217 (6 to 17 years) have access to learning opportunities.7 In host communities, 12,000 children are out of school.

2019-HAC-Mauritania

Source of the document: https://reliefweb.int/report/mauritania/humanitarian-action-children-2019-mauritania