James Morris, the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Humanitarian Needs in Southern Africa, will start a week-long tour of four of the worst affected countries in the region on Thursday, the UN said in a statement on Tuesday.
Fifteen million people in six affected southern African countries are threatened by a combination of severe food shortages and HIV/Aids.
The mission will review current responses to the humanitarian crisis and follow up on the findings of Morris’ first mission in September, which highlighted the role that HIV/Aids has played in exacerbating the current crisis.
he mission will place special emphasis on the impact of the pandemic and, in particular, look at how the UN system and the international community can more effectively assist women, whose lives are most at risk from the disease.
Morris, who is accompanied by a team of senior UN officials, including Stephen Lewis, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/Aids in Africa, will meet with government officials, donor governments and aid agency representatives in each country.
The team will also make site visits to see how specific projects are making a difference to people’s lives.
The mission comes at a time when the UN Consolidated Appeal for southern Africa for $611-million remains seriously under resourced, with only $352-million (58%) in confirmed donations to-date.
In particular, funds for non-food items, such as medicines, healthcare, education, water and sanitation supplies, are desperately needed.
Morris was appointed UN Special Envoy in July 2002, four months after he joined the UN World Food Programme (WFP) as Executive Director.
Lewis took up his post as UN Special Envoy in June 2001 and toured the sub- region in November last year. – I-Net Bridge