A/HRC/7/20 page 8 18. Severe flooding in the country in August 2007 worsened the situation, with nearly a million people affected by deprivations. The emergency response in this regard has been positive and the aid targets of some $14 million for the flash flood appeal on this front have been attained. The Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) notes that the country’s reliance of external food supplies will most likely increase in 2008.11 19. Developments towards the end of 2007 included: − Rapid nutritional screening of children under 5 in 19 of the worst affected areas, between the authorities and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); − Issuance of emergency health kits, with the assistance of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC); − Completion of the first cycle of food distribution to 215,000 people in 37 flood-affected counties in September, with the second cycle of food distribution due in October. 20. Various key actions will be particularly important in the next phase. A crop assessment is now being undertaken by United Nations agencies. A nutritional status assessment is also being conducted by UNICEF and partners. One may recall that a large-scale survey by UNICEF, WFP and the authorities in 2004, indicated that some 37 per cent of young children were chronically malnourished, while one third of mothers were both malnourished and anaemic. These new assessments will allow the international community to take stock of the situation, particularly as it bears on vulnerable groups, and will also facilitate future programming in the endeavour to satisfy an array of economic, social and cultural rights, particularly the right to food and the right to health. 21. United Nations agencies act on the basis of “no access, no food”, implying that if they do not have access to the areas concerned, food aid will not be given. A recurrent challenge is the monitoring process of distribution. Interestingly, the Report by the External Auditor on WFP activities in the country notes these challenges: − The Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea required advance notice of planned food monitoring visits; − WFP monitors were not provided with unrestricted access to field operations, limiting the assurance obtained over the type of beneficiary and the quantities of food consumed; − Interviews were conducted by non-Korean speaking WFP staff through an interpreter in the presence of government officials.12 11 See OCHA, Situation Report No. 7, 10 September 2007, on Floods in the country, and WFP DPRK, Floods Rapid Assessment Report, August 2007, p. 1. 12 WFP/EB.2/2007/5-F/1, 27 August 2007, para. 47.