Concern Worldwide ramps up humanitarian aid response in Ukraine as winter approaches

NEW YORK, Dec. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Concern Worldwide's team in Ukraine is ramping up its efforts to support thousands of Ukrainians displaced internally by the conflict amid warnings that the situation is becoming "more stark." 

By the end of October, Concern Worldwide and its partners had reached almost 40,000 people with cash transfers, food supplies, and hygiene kits. 

"The estimated 6.5 million internally displaced people who have been forced to flee their homes continues to grow – there is a steady influx of people into so-called safer areas," according to Concern's Head of Emergency Operations, Ros O'Sullivan, who has just returned from Ukraine. 

"With winter coming and the first snow now falling, the situation is becoming more stark," he said. "Temperatures at night are falling to minus 4 or 6 degrees, and they will reach minus 20 by the middle of winter." 

Remaining warm is one of the biggest challenges in a country where electricity and fuel are in short supply. "The millions of displaced people face uncertainty, they face fear, and now, on top of that, they are facing the severe cold," O'Sullivan said. "But they are not facing this alone – we are on the ground delivering aid." 

Concern Worldwide has joined the German non-government organization Welthungerhilfe and Italian humanitarian organization Cesvi to operate the Joint Emergency Response in Ukraine (JERU). 

Originally operating in western Ukraine, Concern Worldwide is also working from Poltava and Kirovohrad in the center of the country to get supplies to communities in the east and south of Ukraine, accommodating vast numbers of displaced people. 

Concern Worldwide is providing cash payments to vulnerable families to enable them to buy what they need, supplying food to transit centers working with displaced people, and food and hygiene supplies to communities hosting large numbers of people fleeing the conflict. 

"Concern Worldwide will support some of the 4,000 special winter centers announced by the government this month to provide heat, warmth, food, and charging points in areas where the electricity supply has been impacted," O'Sullivan said. "We are also currently exploring the practicalities of providing generators to provide electricity to these centers," he added. 

Concern Worldwide is completing a multi-sector needs assessment across eight regions in the east and center of Ukraine. The results of this assessment would inform the direction of Concern Worldwide's response into 2023. 

As conflict continues to feed hunger in the world's most vulnerable communities — remaining the main driver in 9 out of 10 of the worst hunger crises around the globe — Concern Worldwide urges the international community and public to come together and Unite to Fight Hunger. 

Amidst the global food crisis, post-pandemic supply chain disruptions, recurring climate events, and the crisis in Ukraine combining to drive rapid inflation, the price of even the most basic food items is startling. For those living on less than $1.90 a day before these compounding challenges, food is nearly impossible to buy and even harder to come by.

Food is life, which is why there is no greater suffering than going without it, but it takes more than food to prevent hunger, and as a global food crisis sweeps the planet, it will take all of us to fix it.

From flooding in Pakistan and drought across the Horn of Africa to conflict in Ukraine, uniting to fight hunger means ensuring the most vulnerable individuals have access to life-saving nutrition in the immediate and long-term aftermath of emergencies to build sustainable livelihoods. 

Media Contact - Candance Patel-Taylor, (212) 557 - 8000, candance.pateltaylor@concern.net 

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SOURCE Concern Worldwide US