From Iran the SRSG will travel to New York where he will spend just over one week. There he will meet with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and number of other key UN officials. He will also meet with the President of the Council on Foreign Relations. The SRSG will cap his visit to New York by briefing the Security Council on 13 August on developments in Afghanistan. As you know the Council holds a meeting each month on developments in the country which Mr. Brahimi addresses if he is in New York. The SRSG is expected back in Kabul during the third week of August.

Initial reports state that 16 dead bodies have been recovered, eight people are missing and three others have been injured. Seventeen houses have totally collapsed while 32 more have been damaged. Seventy six jeribs of cultivated land have been destroyed; one school and 2 mosques damaged; 572 livestock killed while many trees including fruit bearing trees have either been damaged or destroyed. Damage was also done to irrigation canals, houses, road and paths as well as to five footbridges across streams.

On 30 July a natural dam located at the top of the mountain range between Panjshir II and Nuristan burst. The water gushed down the mountain, inundating the two villages of Shahre Belande Pawat and Aft Asyab in Panjshir II below as well as causing damage to additional villages located further down the valley. On 31 July, the assessment teams after travelling 5-6 hours by road to the district capital, Chilpawi, and a further 8 hours on foot reached the disaster area. Fifty tents and 200 blankets were distributed to people without shelter. On 1 August the Department of Disaster Preparedness with the assistance of a Ministry of Defence helicopter distributed US$20,000 to families who had lost family members. Emergency - an NGO - has a health post close to the district capital of Chilpawi and has an ambulance on stand-by for the evacuation of injured to the hospital in Panjshir IV.

In further response ISAF will provide helicopter assistance while International Federation of the Red Crescent (IFRC) and (ARCS) will dispatch non-food items such as tents, plastic sheeting, blankets, jerry cans, cooking sets as well relief food supplies to the affected in the area. These will be sent tomorrow. A technical assessment team, comprised of MRRD, DDP, World Food Programme (WFP), United Nations Office for Projects Services (UNOPS), and ARCS will join this relief convoy for detailed damage assessment.

A decision reached by the Security Commission of the North last Wednesday (30 July) requires all factional commanders who have been recalled to Mazar-e-Sharif from the districts of Sholgara in Balkh Province and Dara-i-Suf to report to UNAMA on a daily basis. Following that directive, last Thursday (31 July) one Jamiat and nine Jumbesh commanders from Sholgara as well as two Jamiat commanders from Dara-i-Suf turned up at UNAMA for registration. And yesterday eight members of Jamiat from Sholgara turned up. UNAMA sets the time for reporting and commanders are notified one hour before. Over the past few months some 33 commanders have been recalled from Sholgara and four from Dara-i-Suf to Mazar. In theory all 37 should report to UNAMA's offices on a daily basis

Although the registration process has so far not yielded the results sought it is a start and at the very least will provide one way for the Commission to ascertain which commanders have remained in Mazar. It will also help to prevent some of these factional elements from returning to the two regions until the Commission can deal with the issues, which have contributed to the recent spate of tensions and fighting in the two areas. The Mazar based PRTs are currently patrolling Sholgara and the Balkhab District near lower Dara-i-Suf making it difficult for commanders to slip back.

On Wednesday 6 August the issue of the various commanders' non-compliance with the directive to report to UNAMA will be taken up at a meeting of the Commission.

Despite ongoing security problems in parts of the country and tremendous development and economic needs, Afghan refuges are still coming back in significant numbers. Returns assisted by UNHCR and the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation have averaged more than 20,000 weekly since the beginning of May.

Each returning family receives a UNHCR aid package and food from the World Food Programme. This year, UNHCR plans to provide 60,000 housing repair kits to Afghans going home with its assistance. Already, more than 12,700 families have begun work using their UNHCR shelter construction kits.

Repatriation to Afghanistan this year is well below the unprecedented level of 2002, when more than 1.8 million repatriated with assistance from UNHCR and its humanitarian partners. At the height of returns to Afghanistan in May 2002, more than 20,000 people were returning daily.

Iran and Pakistan have hosted millions of Afghan refugees since 1980.

UNICEF, Communication Officer, Edward Carwardine

The success of the June campaign follows a steady improvement in vaccination coverage for measles, one of the major killers of children in the developing world. The fight against measles, which in 1999 claimed the lives of 875,000 children worldwide, is part of a global drive to reduce measles-related deaths by 50% by the year 2005. In 2002, more than 11 million children were immunized against measles in Afghanistan. The success of the two campaigns is unprecedented in a country facing a complex emergency. Prior to these campaigns, measles was estimated to contribute to up to 15-20% of deaths among children under five in Afghanistan.

The progress made in immunization efforts underlines steady improvements in the infrastructure and systems available to health teams as part of the country's Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI). This has included investments in cold chain systems - the equipment and training required to ensure the safe storage and transport of vaccine - and improvements in training of vaccinators themselves. In addition, the increased use of women vaccinators over the last 18 months has improved access to households, and thus enhanced the ability to reach every child in the target age groups.

Since the beginning of 2002, there has been a notable reduction in the number of reported cases of measles in Afghanistan, from over 400 per month in January 2002 to less than 50 per month by mid-2003. The success of the June measles campaign is another step forward in the already drastic reduction of measles incidence in Afghanistan. The recent campaign has ensured that the Ministry of Health's target for measles immunization in 2003 has been fully met, although to maintain the necessary coverage levels to interrupt the transmission of the measles virus continued efforts will be made to immunize children through routine vaccination activities.

Today's announcement on the success of the measles campaign comes as the Technical Advisory Group on Afghanistan - an international advisory body for the global polio eradication initiative - praised the efforts made by Afghanistan's health authorities to tackle polio, another major killer disease affecting children. In its July meeting in Geneva, the Group lauded Afghanistan's Ministry of Health and its partners for the remarkable achievements made in the last two years, in face of the extremely difficult circumstances under which staff have to work. The Group noted that human resources, communications, and transport infrastructure necessary to effectively undertake polio immunization are essentially in place and the Group commented on the extraordinary dedication and commitment of the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and WHO staff and the strengthened coordination between partners.