Philippines Appeal
Humanitarian Action for Children
UNICEF’s Humanitarian Action for Children appeal helps support the agency’s work as it
provides conflict- and disaster-affected children with access to water, sanitation, nutrition,
education, health and protection services. Return to main appeal page.
Philippines snapshot
Appeal highlights
- An estimated 2.4 million people, including 912,000 children, will need humanitarian assistance due to the devastating impact of Super Typhoon Rai. Overnight, thousands of families lost their houses and livelihoods. In addition, public services have been damaged, water and sanitation systems destroyed, electrical power and communication lines interrupted. The extent of the needs is much greater when initially assessed by UN partners and the Government in December 2021. Moreover, the Typhoon comes as the country battles the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Together with its partners and the private sector, UNICEF augments the Government’s relief efforts to implement its humanitarian, and resilience-building programme while maintaining solid emergency preparedness and response capacity.
- UNICEF appeals for US$39.8 million to provide humanitarian services to 492,000 people and 293,000 children. The funds will support basic services delivery and recovery, focusing on impoverished families affected by Typhoon and the COVID-19 mitigation and response.
Key planned results for 2022
2,700 children admitted for treatment for severe acute malnutrition
277,000 children and women accessing health care
2.3 million people reached with hand-washing behaviour-change programmes
92,000 women and children accessing gender-based violence mitigation, prevention, response
Funding requirements for 2022
Country needs and strategy
Humanitarian needs
On 16 December 2021, Super Typhoon Rai (locally called Odette) swept through the Philippines. It brought with it torrential rains, violent winds, floods, and storm surges that resulted in 409 deaths, thousands of injuries, and over half a million displaced. The Typhoon severely disrupted essential services, resulting in widespread humanitarian needs.
Sixteen million people live in severely affected areas, and 2.4 million people, including 912,000 children, require humanitarian assistance. Over 140,000 people still live in evacuation centers. The Typhoon has taken a significant toll on the most vulnerable, especially children, who are faced with increased risks to their survival and physical and mental wellbeing.
The Typhoon disrupted access to safe water and sanitation facilities, heightening the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, including cholera. Some 2.4 million people need WASH support, as over 141 water structures and over 410 sanitation facilities have been destroyed. Affected families are now relying on springs and hand pumps for water, many of which are contaminated by flood and sea waters. Water and sanitation facilities in all affected schools and health centres have been damaged. Hygiene promotion remains an overarching priority.
With some 220 health facilities, 40 percent of health stations being damaged across the affected regions, the health system faces enormous challenges, which is further compounded by a resurgence of COVID-19 infections. Lack of health and nutrition human resources is a concern. Maintaining access to life-saving assistance, including maternal and child health, needs prioritization. Over 133,000 children are at risk of acute severe malnutrition.
High displacement rates and heightened risks of gender-based violence create psychosocial and mental health challenges for children. Children in the displacement sites are at higher risk of violence, with girls and women particularly at risk of sexual violence. Children with disabilities are especially vulnerable.
The Typhoon comes as the country continues to battle the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent surge caused by the Omicron variant. Since the start of the pandemic, 3.5 million positive COVID-19 cases, with 202,884 active cases and 58,300 deaths have been reported.
The impact of the Typhoon on the education of children, who are already profoundly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, is devastating. Since March 2020, schools have been closed, and their reopening in the affected areas will be further delayed unless urgent action is taken. The Department of Education estimates that 89 percent of 29,671 schools in the affected areas have sustained damage impacting the education of 14.8 million learners.
UNICEF’s strategy
UNICEF supports the efforts of the Government to restore access to essential health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, education, and child protection services, primarily focusing on the most affected and vulnerable children and women. The Core Commitment to Children in Humanitarian Action guides UNICEF's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and Typhoon Rai.
Together with the Government, UNICEF co-leads the nutrition, education, WASH clusters, and child protection sub-cluster supporting emergency response and preparedness efforts – including prepositioning emergency supplies which allow for a timely response to the most urgent needs. UNICEF's robust field presence allows for the rapid scale-up of activities through expanded partnerships for programmes in hard-to-reach areas.
For the response to Typhoon Rai, UNICEF's water and sanitation programme will establish safe, sustainable water supply systems: maintaining, upgrading, and expanding the water structures, sanitation facilities, and distributing hygiene kits and information. To meet the significant needs in the WASH sector and to prevent the risk of infectious disease outbreaks, UNICEF will prioritize clean water and sanitation for the affected population. UNICEF will repair water and sanitation facilities in affected schools and health centers.
UNICEF will implement life-saving health and nutrition interventions through a community-based programme for affected girls, boys, adolescents, mothers, and newborns. In 2022, UNICEF will expand its Risk Communication and Community Engagement strategies to reach families affected by Typhoon Rai and the COVID-19 pandemic. UNICEF will also support nutrition services targeting children and pregnant/lactating mothers. Infection prevention and response measures will be mainstreamed.
UNICEF will also implement prevention campaigns and specialized services targeting survivors of gender-based violence and specialized case management. UNICEF aims to scale up its mental health and psychosocial support programme.
Vulnerable children will participate in safe and protective educational programmes that allow for the continuation of learning despite the closure of schools. UNICEF will work with the Department of Education to support the safe reopening of schools. In addition, infection prevention and control measures will also be conducted in schools.
Using government-supported social protection schemes, the most vulnerable children and families will receive cash assistance.
Building on its Country Programme, UNICEF pursues a balanced approach between providing immediate life-saving assistance, investing in systems strengthening, and building the resilience of services and communities. UNICEF is currently expanding its programme monitoring to engage communities in the design, reach, and quality of its interventions. Furthermore, UNICEF programmes are informed by a solid risk analysis and linked to early recovery. UNICEF prioritizes gender, disability, equity, mainstreaming PSEA, and AAP in its humanitarian response.
Programme targets
Find out more about UNICEF's work
Highlights
Humanitarian Action is at the core of UNICEF’s mandate to realize the rights of every child. This edition of Humanitarian Action for Children – UNICEF’s annual humanitarian fundraising appeal – describes the ongoing crises affecting children in the Philippines; the strategies that we are using to respond to these situations; and the donor support that is essential in this response.