UN aid will target orphans and vulnerable children

The plight of orphans and vulnerable children in Namibia would have to be addressed through targeted interventions, the UN coordinator in the country told IRIN on Monday.

Namibia is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis fuelled by HIV/AIDS and consecutive droughts, which have combined to erode household coping abilities and raised concern over the status of orphans and vulnerable children.

The Namibian government appealed for international assistance in late November last year, saying that 642,539 people required immediate food aid.

UN Development Programme Coordinator Jacqui Badcock told IRIN on Monday that the UN would be looking at providing "targeted food assistance, particularly for orphans and vulnerable children, due to [the impact of] HIV/AIDS".

Badcock said the UN had conducted an assessment following the government's appeal and "the general finding is that the government probably is providing enough food for the general population, but there's a need for targeted interventions".

"We are going to explore how we can help in expanding the government's existing emergency response, with particular emphasis on how they can incorporate the HIV/AIDS pandemic and its effects," she added.

Namibia has been badly affected by two years of drought, exacerbated by floods in parts of the country.

The government said some Nam $219 million (about US $33.8 million) was needed for drought-relief efforts, of which it had contributed Nam $92 million (about US $14.2 million), leaving a gap of about US $19.6 million to be filled by donors.