Alarming new data has today confirmed the magnitude of the hunger emergency gripping Tigray, where at least 4 million people face severe hunger and 350 000 of them are facing famine. The lack of information on people¡¯s food security in western Tigray in the IPC analysis (ipcinfo.org) is also deeply worrying.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ has swiftly mounted an emergency food assistance operation deploying more than 180 staff and increasing food distributions to reach 1.4 million people, yet that is barely half of the number we should be reaching. Other agencies are also struggling to reach many of the rest of Tigray¡¯s hungry.
Three things are needed to prevent hunger from claiming millions of lives in Tigray; a ceasefire, unimpeded access for Â鶹ÊÓƵ and partners to all areas, and the money to expand our operations to meet the growing numbers of people who desperately need emergency food assistance.
Mozambique¡¯s Cabo Delgado province is in the grips of a spiraling crisis as thousands of people flee their homes amidst violence, warns the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ.
Recent attacks in Palma have affected 50,000 people. Many have fled Palma to Pemba on boats making their perilous journey over choppy waters. Thousands are still trapped in Palma and Quitunda, and Â鶹ÊÓƵ is working round the clock to secure access to those most in need. Â鶹ÊÓƵ has also been using boats from Pemba to reach those in remote areas, on surrounding coastal islands.
Conflict continues to drive hunger in northern Mozambique as more than 950,000 people now face severe hunger. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is in the process of scaling-up its response in northern Mozambique, with plans to assist 750,000 internally displaced people and vulnerable members of the local community across the provinces of Cabo Delgado, Nampula, Niassa, and Zambezia.
The number of hungry people in Central America has nearly quadrupled over two years. Devastating hurricanes compounded economic shocks caused by COVID-19 leaving millions without an income and many planning to migrate.
Agricultural and coastal communities in the Dry Corridor have borne the brunt of a years-long climate emergency that was exacerbated by hurricanes Eta and Iota last year. They are struggling to meet even their most basic needs.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ calls on the international community to support its efforts in Central America to provide immediate assistance to hard-hit communities and build their resilience.
DAMASCUS ¨C After a decade of upheaval, conflict and displacement, Syrians are facing the worst humanitarian conditions since the start of the crisis, with millions of people sliding into hunger in the last year alone, according to the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ.
Syrians are facing multiple shocks, including the collapse of the Syrian pound, its impact on the price of basic commodities, the fall-out from the financial crisis in Lebanon, as well as the ongoing hostilities and large-scale displacement. The Covid-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the food security situation.
Hunger in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua has increased almost fourfold over the past two years - from 2.2 million people in 2018 to close to 8 million people in 2021 ¨C a result of the economic crisis caused by COVID-19 and years of extreme climate events. Of this figure, 1.7 million people are in the ¡®Emergency¡¯ category of food insecurity and require urgent food assistance.
South Sudan is facing the highest levels of food insecurity since the country declared independence ten years ago. A hunger crisis looms where 60 percent (7.24 million) of its population is increasingly hungry due to chronic sporadic violence, extreme weather patterns and the economic impact of COVID-19.
The future of South Sudan depends on real peace and stability. While the causes of hunger are many, the biggest driver is conflict leading to displacements and loss of livelihoods. Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s food assistance and livelihoods programmes help to lay the foundation for peace by providing hope to the hungry and creating opportunities to pull people out of poverty.
Nearly 2.3 million children under the age of five in Yemen are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition in 2021, four United Nations agencies warned today. Of these, 400,000 are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition and could die if they do not receive urgent treatment.
The new figures, from the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Acute Malnutrition report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF, the Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ), the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, mark an increase of 16 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, from 2020.
The agencies also warned that these were among the highest levels of severe acute malnutrition recorded in Yemen since the escalation of conflict in 2015.
Three consecutive years of drought coupled with a sharp recession triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic will leave a third of the population in Southern Madagascar struggling to put food on the table. With severe malnutrition rates continuing to spiral and many children forced to beg in order to help their families eat, urgent action is required to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
The 2020 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ is recognition of the important link between conflict and hunger and the critical role that food assistance plays in supporting the first step towards peace and stability.
As the Nobel Committee has said, the world today is in danger of experiencing a hunger crisis of inconceivable proportions if the Â鶹ÊÓƵ and other food assistance organisations do not receive the financial support they have requested.
The window to prevent famine in Yemen is narrowing as new figures reveal record highs of acute food insecurity in the country, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the UN Â鶹ÊÓƵ (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) and UNICEF warned today.
¡°These alarming numbers must be a wake-up call to the world. Yemen is on the brink of famine and we must not turn our backs on the millions of families who are now in desperate need. Make no mistake, 2021 will be even worse than 2020 for Yemen¡¯s most vulnerable people. Famine can still be prevented ¨C but that opportunity is slipping away with every day that passes,¡± said David Beasley, Executive Director of the Â鶹ÊÓƵ.
From January to September 2020, Â鶹ÊÓƵ reached 6.7 million food insecure girls, boys, women and men across the country with food assistance. This included 4.5 million seasonally food insecure people, more than 290,000 people affected by the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 more than 200,00 returnees and refugees.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s nutrition programme helped to treat or prevent more than 1 million girls and boys under 5 and pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.
Until the end of the year, Â鶹ÊÓƵ Afghanistan plans to reach 10.2 million people, including 3 million affected by the socio-economic impact of COVID-19.
Distributions and activities across the country were adjusted to ensure the safety of the people Â鶹ÊÓƵ serves, our partners and Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s staff and to help quell the spread of the coronavirus.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ is alarmed at growing numbers of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Ethiopia and Sudan because of conflict in the Tigray region of Northern Ethiopia between the Ethiopian National Defence Forces and Tigray People¡¯s Liberation Front (TPLF).
The violence has displaced upwards of 100,000 civilians fleeing conflict internally and externally.
The biggest issue hampering a humanitarian response is a lack of access for organizations, including Â鶹ÊÓƵ, both into and within the Tigray region.
Any response to assist people in need in Ethiopia is planned and conducted with the leadership of the federal and regional governments.
Millions of people in Central America urgently need food assistance in the wake of Hurricane Eta, one of the worst storms in decades, as fears grow of another storm brewing in the coming days.
Heavy rains, high winds, deadly landslides and floods unleashed by Eta after making landfall in Nicaragua earlier this month killed dozens of people, destroyed infrastructure and hurt rural livelihoods along its path in Central America, including in Belize, Guatemala and Honduras
Â鶹ÊÓƵ predicts the number of people with severe food insecurity in the Dry Corridor could increase from more than 1.6 million in 2019 to close to 3 million in 2020, due to the socioeconomic fallout of COVID-19.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ is today warning that unless humanitarian access is urgently granted to organizations like the Â鶹ÊÓƵ, catastrophic levels of hunger could hit hard in parts of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. The stark warning comes ahead of the High-Level Ministerial Conference on the Central Sahel in Copenhagen on 20 October 2020.
Violence and insecurity have pushed 7.4 million people in the Central Sahel region of West Africa into acute hunger. The number of internally displaced people has risen from 70,000 two years ago to nearly 1.6 million today, including over 288,000 in Mali, more than 265,000 in Niger and over one million in Burkina Faso, which is now home to the world¡¯s fastest growing displacement crisis.
South Sudan is bracing itself for a crisis. Humanitarian conditions are rapidly deteriorating, and the spectre of terrible levels of hunger looms over the country as conflict, torrential rain and flooding disrupt people¡¯s access to food.
More than 700,000 people across South Sudan have been affected by flooding since June, especially in Jonglei and Unity States where the flooding is at its most severe. Â鶹ÊÓƵ provided food assistance to more than 500,000 people in flood-affected areas in July and August.
SANA¡¯A ¨C Yemen is at a tipping point as conflict and economic woes drag the country to the brink of famine and risk cancelling out the gains made through humanitarian action in the past few years, the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ warns today.
Conflict has escalated across more than 40 frontlines, the cost of basic foods is higher than ever before and the currency has lost 25 percent of its value in 2020 alone ¨C 70 percent compared to its pre-war value. As the country¡¯s foreign currency reserves tick towards zero Yemen¡¯s ability to import food could also disappear, threatening more hunger for millions.
For the last six months, families in areas controlled by the Sana¡¯a authorities have only received food assistance on alternate months as Â鶹ÊÓƵ has tried to stretch its limited resources and avoid full breaks in assistance. But this has made life harder for millions: in just three months people with inadequate food consumption in these areas increased from 28 to 43 percent, according to Â鶹ÊÓƵ data.
MAPUTO ¨C Â鶹ÊÓƵ is extremely concerned about the escalating conflict and deteriorating food security situation in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique, where over 300,000 people have fled their homes and villages, abandoning their crops and leaving them completely reliant on humanitarian assistance.
Growing violence and insecurity have increased the threat of hunger in the northern province of Cabo Delgado as communities have lost access to food and income sources. Latest findings from famine early warning system FEWSNET indicate that communities will continue to face ¡®crisis¡¯ levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 3) into early 2021. The situation is even more worrisome given that Cabo Delgado has the second highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the country with more than half of children under 5 chronically malnourished. Any additional shocks could rapidly worsen the situation, especially for women and children.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ Chief David Beasley addressed the UN Security Council to warn that in many vulnerable countries the economic effects of the COVID19 pandemic could cause more deaths from hunger than the virus itself especially in areas of conflict like NE Nigeria, DR Congo, Yemen and South Sudan.
¡°This is obviously a great danger that many more people will die from the broader economic and social consequences of COVID-19 than from the virus itself, especially in Africa and the last thing we need is to have the cure be worst than the disease itself. And so your continued support for humanitarian programs is critical right now.¡±
Â鶹ÊÓƵ is on the ground responding to the immediate and longer term food needs of the most vulnerable people across Lebanon. The country has been hit hard by the triple shock of the blast, COVID-19, and the economic crisis, with severe consequences for lives and livelihoods.
These devastating events come as Lebanon faces its worst ever financial crisis - at a time of soaring unemployment and salary cuts with many families struggling to make ends meet.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ is on the ground responding to the food needs of the most vulnerable people across Lebanon whose incomes, jobs and lives have been affected by the triple shock of the blast, COVID-19, and economic crisis. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is also providing immediate relief following last week¡¯s blasts.
As Corona-Virus cases soar, Latin America has become the region most impacted by COVID-19 globally, accounting for over a quarter of the world¡¯s cases. The health pandemic is driving hunger and food insecurity which risks fuelling conflict and political unrest and forcing vulnerable families to migrate. Â鶹ÊÓƵ urgently needs additional funding of US$328 million to support relief and recovery operations in the region.
ROME ¨C The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Children's Fund and partners, today released the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis for 133 districts in Yemen (http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/ipc-alerts/issue-24/en/).
The forecast:
More than 1 million more people in the southern areas of Yemen will face acute food insecurity by the end of the year, according to the analysis.
Acute food insecurity will increase from the current 25 percent of the population to 40 percent by the end of the year in the areas surveyed ¨C an increase from 2 million people to 3.2 million people out of a surveyed population of 7.9 million.
The United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ today announced a massive rise in the number of hungry people it plans to assist around the world, as the devastating socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic push millions more people into food insecurity in low- and middle-income countries.
To tackle the rising tide of hunger, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is undertaking the biggest humanitarian response in its history, ramping up the number of people it assists to up to 138 million from a record 97 million in 2019. But sustained funding is urgently required to respond to the immediate consequences of the pandemic on the most vulnerable, and support governments and partners as they curb the spread of the disease and deal with the fallout from the pandemic. Â鶹ÊÓƵ is appealing for a US$ 4.9 billion over the next six months for its life-saving work in 83 countries.
As well as delivering life-saving assistance on the front-lines of hunger, Â鶹ÊÓƵ is uniquely positioned to help governments assist and empower vulnerable communities through support to social protection systems, access to basic school-based and nutrition services, and support to food systems.
Syrians today face an unprecedented hunger crisis as the prices of basic foods reach levels unseen even at the height of the nine-year conflict and millions of people are pushed deeper into poverty the United Nations Â鶹ÊÓƵ says, on the eve of a donors pledging conference for Syria.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ estimates that 9.3 million Syrians are now food insecure ¨C with an increase of 1.4 million in the last six months alone.
A toxic cocktail of conflict, economic standstill, the freefall of the Lebanese economy - which is a vital bridge to Syria¡¯s - and COVID-19 lockdown measures, has pushed food prices more than 200% higher in less than a year.
Â鶹ÊÓƵ urgently requires US$200 million to continue to provide food assistance in Syria until the end of the year. Unless new funding is available by August, Â鶹ÊÓƵ will be forced to drastically cut rations as well as the number of people reached with food as of October 2020.
With much of the world¡¯s commercial transport systems, particularly airlines, grounded by COVID-19, Â鶹ÊÓƵ - the world¡¯s largest humanitarian organization fighting hunger and a global leader in logistics ¨C has stepped in to move passengers and huge volumes of health and other supplies needed in the fight against the global pandemic.
Other Common Service facilities which Â鶹ÊÓƵ has helped set up for the humanitarian and health community include two field hospitals, one in East and the other in West Africa, and to date 16 medical evacuations have been carried out, including with Â鶹ÊÓƵ-contracted air ambulances.
