OCHA: Insecurity hinders aid providers in Syria

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) on Thursday said humanitarian organizations are providing assistance to millions of Syrians, but "insecurity continues to threaten their lives and their ability to reach people in need." It said in a statement that the World Food Programme (WFP), for instance, was able to dispatch less than 30 percent of the planned food rations this month, compared to October, when it reached over 3.4 million people with food supplies. Despite the insecurity, it noted, humanitarian convoys have dispatched life-saving assistance to more than 312,000 people in hard-to-reach areas in the past two weeks. It added that other aid agencies have vaccinated 1.4 million children against polio and another 473,000 children against measles so far, "but they face access constraints" in Dar'a, Damascus and governorates in the northeast of the country. OCHA estimates that 9.3 million people in Syria need humanitarian assistance, including 6.5 million people who have been displaced. It all began in mid-March 2011, when Syrians took to the streets demanding freedom, democracy and even regime change.