Humanitarian aid remains largely underfunded

Underfunding has hampered relief work in Guinea, where only US $8.5 million out of US $35.6 million requested for humanitarian and relief programmes had been received by late October, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported.

The funds have been requested under the 2001 West Africa Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal (CAP), which outlines projects UN bodies plan to carry out in countries of the region and the funding needed to execute them.

Three sectors included in the CAP - economic recovery/infrastructure, water/sanitation, and family shelter and non-food items - have received no new funding, OCHA-Guinea said in its situation report for October. On the other hand, education, health/nutrition and protection/human rights have received significant levels of support, according to the report.

The best funded sector in Guinea is food security, with the World Food Programme (WFP) receiving US $2.6 million (94 percent) of the US $2.75 million it requested. This has allowed WFP and its partners to distribute food to refugees, internally displaced people and other vulnerable groups each month, and carry out other food aid projects.

OCHA said an additional US $1.8 million was needed to assist people affected by recent floods in Guinea. A UN mission concluded last month that the needs of that population remained unmet.

Meanwhile, Guinean health authorities, UN agencies and NGOs have resumed services in Gueckedou, the region that suffered most damage during fighting last year and in early 2001 along the border with Liberia and Sierra Leone.