Archived Document
Priority 3. Provide humanitarian assistance for extremely vulnerable people, including refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons.
For this priority, Canada’s 2011 objective is for humanitarian assistance to be accessible to the most vulnerable people, including Afghan refugees, and to returnees and internally displaced persons in Kandahar and nationwide.
Canada continues to work with the Afghan government, UN partners and local non-governmental organizations to ensure Afghan communities and agencies are able to respond effectively to mitigate the impact of conflict, natural disasters and ill health.
In this quarter, Canada continued to implement its third signature project, the eradication of polio at the national level, using a network of more than 45,000 volunteers nationwide. Only five new cases of polio were reported in this quarter, bringing the total to 12 for 2010, mostly in remote southern districts in Helmand, Uruzgan and Kandahar provinces. This suggests that the virus has not regained a foothold in areas of northern Afghanistan which are now deemed polio-free.
Despite the dangers posed by the security situation, the Afghan Ministry of Public Health, with Canada’s support, oversaw two polio vaccination campaigns in May and June, reaching over 390,000 children in each campaign.
Canada also made advancements in this quarter on the provision of new health measures for two highly vulnerable groups: pregnant women and children under the age of five. The Emergency Micronutrient Initiative funded by Canada aims to reduce nutritional deficiencies among these groups: 140,000 children under the age of five received packets of multiple micronutrient powders, while 78,000 pregnant or lactating women received iron and folic acid supplements. These interventions help reduce maternal mortality, complications during pregnancy and birth defects, and can prevent developmental delays in children.
Afghan de-miners play a vital role in removing
landmines and making land available for use.
With Canada’s support, 574 square kilometres
of land have been released to Afghans as
free of mines and explosive remnants of war,
and more than 520,000 people in Kandahar
province have received mine-risk education.
Significant progress was also made in mine clearance. This quarter an additional 112 square kilometres of land were released to the community as free of mines and explosive remnants of war, bringing the total amount of released land to 574 square kilometres. This surpasses Canada’s target of releasing 500 square kilometres by 2011. In addition, more than 40,000 people—40 percent of whom were women and girls—received mine-risk education in this quarter. Since 2007, over 520,000 people in Kandahar province have received mine-risk education.
Canada supported UN agencies, non-governmental organizations and Afghan authorities in relief efforts following flash flooding in a number of regions and an earthquake in the north of the country. Emergency shelter, food, water and health services were provided to those affected. Canada further supported humanitarian refugee operations, assisting the return of over 77,000 Afghans from Pakistan.
