Posted on March, 13, 2024 at 09:28 am
FOOD SECURITY OVERVIEW
Conflict, inflation, disease outbreaks and poor access to nutritious diets and safe water continue to impact the state of food security and nutrition in Eastern Africa.
As of March 2024, there are an estimated 54 million food-insecure people in Eastern Africa. Hotspot countries include Sudan (17.7 million), Ethiopia (15.8 million people), and South Sudan (5.7 million). Some 23.4 million people are displaced internally or abroad, including 5 million refugees and asylum seekers and 18.4 million IDPs.
Since the conflict started in Sudan, more than 6 million have been displaced internally, and 1.7 million have been forced to flee across borders.
NUTRITION OVERVIEW
The war in Sudan continues to be a leading cause of increased cases of malnutrition and associated mortality in the region (see more in the box on page 2). In South Sudan, between July 2023 and June 2024, an estimated 1.7 million children between 6-59 months are expected to suffer acute malnutrition including half a million children expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM). 870,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women are expected to suffer acute malnutrition in this period.
In Ethiopia, the prolonged drought coupled with malaria, measles, and cholera outbreaks have exacerbated further the deterioration in nutritional security with Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates beyond the emergency threshold (>15 percent), with worst outcomes in Tigray, Afar, Amhara, and parts of the Oromia, Southern and Southwest regions. The ongoing conflict in Amhara has also led to the destruction or closing down of schools, leaving 2.5 million out-of-school children, and increasing risks of child marriage and early childbearing for girls.
Source: ReliefWeb