Emirates Red Crescent supports refugees and IDPs in Mali

The Emirates Red Crescent is carrying out projects in Mali's healthcare, educational and services sectors to support refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in cooperation with international organisations.

Some 28,000 under-five children will benefit from the agency's healthcare projects while 95 percent of children will be vaccinated against diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, respiratory infections, hepatitis and measles.

Eighty percent of pregnant women and newborns will also benefit from the agency's projects.

The agency is also planning to support education in the northern cities of Gao and Timbuktu by rehabilitating and equipping schools, training teachers and raising awareness of local communities about the benefits of education.

The Emirates Red Crescent also provided thousands of tonnes of basic food items for locals and refugees in the Malian desert.

The UAE humanitarian agency had an early presence in Mali, one of the African countries hardest hit by a humanitarian crisis being complicated by conflict, drought, desertification and the spread of hunger and poverty. The agency is leading a coalition of six of the largest United Nations agencies and has hosted a series of meetings in Abu Dhabi to put forth a plan to counter challenges facing Mali.

Source: WAM