View previous stories
	Children face staggeringly high hunger in conflict-hit Central African Republic by WFP, Action Against Hunger, agencies   Dec. 2016   Funding shortages threaten vital assistance to most vulnerable in Central African Republic. (WFP)   The World Food Programme (WFP) urges donors to provide immediate support for over 150,000 highly vulnerable people, displaced by violence, so they can continue to receive life-saving assistance in the Central African Republic (CAR).   Without urgent funding, WFP will be forced to halt its assistance to the 150,000 in February.   Funding constraints in 2016 have already had a serious impact on the people of CAR. WFP was able to assist about half of the people it aimed to support about 400,000 out of nearly 1 million leaving more than half a million people without the urgent assistance they desperately needed.   WFP was also forced to halve the amount of food provided to beneficiaries. WFP distributed half ration through general food distribution. In November and December, the school meals distributions only covered for 15 days instead of 18 initially planned.   In December, thousands of displaced people in Kaga Bandoro, a region hit by renewed violence were forced to struggle harder to make ends meet on just 25 percent of a full food ration.   'Our food stocks are at their lowest. Without additional resources, we will be forced to make new cuts in January and distribute a ration with no rice, a reduced quantity of peas, vegetable oil, iodized salt and specialized nutritious food. Without urgent support, we will be forced to suspend our food distributions as of February', said Felix Gomez, WFP Country Director in C.A.R.   WFP requires at least US$21.5 million to maintain assistance some 150,000 people through to June 2017 with complete food rations. The funds will be used to procure 14,580 metric tons of various food supplies.   'The food distributed by WFP represents a lifeline for people who have lost everything. Suspending assistance will have a dramatic impact on the lives of already internally displaced people and refugees, who rely on our food distributions to feed themselves and their families', added Gomez.   The interruption of the assistance would place an unbearable burden on similarly vulnerable host communities, which could fuel frictions and pose security risks.   We call on the generosity of our donors to help avert a greater humanitarian crisis, concluded Gomez.   In C.A.R., years of conflict have driven millions of people deeper into poverty and hunger. Half of the nearly 5 million-strong population currently face hunger.   In 2017, WFP plans to assist 578,000 people through monthly food distributions; food assistance in exchange for creating community assets; purchase for progress activities, which connect smallholder farmers to markets; the treatment and prevention of malnutrition; and emergency school meals. http://bit.ly/2lNHwGz   July 2016   Children face staggeringly high hunger in conflict-hit Central African Republic.   Up to 60 children in Central African Republic die every day from malnutrition, says Action Against Hunger   Clinging to her toy dog, 18-month-old Clemence Mokbem stares ahead as nurses rush past to tend to crying babies in the hot, overcrowded intensive care ward in a Bangui hospital.   The toddler was taken to the main children's hospital in Central African Republic''s capital by her teenage mother Anita, after successive bouts of malaria led to fever and weight loss.   "I fed her but she didn't eat - she cried all night," the 16-year-old told the Thomson Reuters Foundation at the hospital. "She's had malaria a few times, but not like that."   Despite suffering from malnutrition, diarrhoea and vomiting, Clemence is starting to regain her strength, having arrived at the hospital's nutrition unit weighing only 5 kg (11 lb).   Across the Central African Republic, up to 60 children die every day due to malnutrition, according to aid organisation Action Against Hunger (ACF), which runs the unit.   Three years of conflict have damaged many health facilities or left them empty and disrupted farming in a country where three in four people rely on agriculture to survive.   Half of the population do not have enough food - a number which has doubled since last year, according to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), which said the hunger levels across the Central African Republic were "staggeringly high".   "Malnutrition is a silent and a forgotten crisis affecting children in the Central African Republic," said Celestin Traore of the U.N. children's agency (UNICEF), adding that four in 10 children across the country suffer from chronic malnutrition.   The election of a new president in February raised hopes of stability for Central African's population of 4.6 million, but there is little sign of a downturn in the number of people suffering from malnutrition, said ACF country head Eric Besse.   "We are saving lives.. but to change things we can't think of malnutrition just as a health problem," Besse said.   "There are still stakeholders fighting or just looting and attacking villages to gain terrain. People are still displaced every day, and half of the population are still starving."   Central African Republic descended into chaos in March 2013 when mainly Muslim Seleka fighters seized power, triggering reprisal attacks by Christian anti-balaka militias.   A fifth of the population is still displaced having fled their homes due to violence, and the country remains largely divided along religious lines and controlled by warlords.   While violence is more sporadic this year compared with the sustained bloodshed of previous years. Renewed clashes in recent months have uprooted tens of thousands of people and restricted aid access.   The numbers of children under five dying from malnutrition and disease are above emergency levels in 11 of 16 provinces, a huge spike from rates recorded before 2013, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).   Malnutrition stunts growth and development, makes children vulnerable to disease and accounts for nearly half of all deaths of children under five worldwide.   ACF's nutrition programme coordinator Justin Kabuyaya said levels of severe acute malnutrition in Central African Republic comes just below the recognised emergency level of two percent.   But some areas of the country have much higher rates of malnutrition due to several factors ranging from the impact of violence to a lack of access to markets and healthcare and mothers unable to breastfeed due to trauma, Kabuyaya said.   "It's also linked to the calendar - we'll see peaks in lean times like the end of the dry season and at the beginning of the rainy season, which brings more malaria," he added.   Back at the hospital in Bangui, parents, grandparents, and other relatives wash their clothes, cook meals and even sleep within the hospital grounds while the children are treated.   There is a flurry of activity as milk is handed out, and mothers queue for their quota, filing past families sitting on mats or wooden benches, waiting for news of their children.   Corrine Ngombe has come with her two-year-old daughter Sara, two-week-old son Ezechiel, and sister-in-law Chantelle, who have been living in a camp for the displaced in Bangui since their home was burned down by Seleka fighters in December 2014.   Sara, who passed out a few days ago from a high fever, vomits all over the floor after trying to drink some milk.   The doctors diagnose her with a form of severe malnutrition that causes swelling, and say that she needs to be admitted.   "We don't have a proper tent.. just a sheet that doesn't stop the rain coming in, so the kids get malaria," Ngombe said.   "We have no money for a proper house, we have no house to go back to, and we have no money for food," the 32-year-old added.   ACF's Besse worries about how much more instability and violence Central Africans are able to withstand.   "People have coping mechanisms and they have resilience - it''s always been that way. But in this last crisis, a lot of people lost the ability to build their resilience," he says.   "People have been saying CAR is stabilised - no, it's not. Things are not going to change in five minutes. It's not post-crisis.. It's still a failed state."   http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/families-central-african-republic-food-situation-dire http://www.wfp.org/news/news-release/half-population-central-african-republic-faces-hunger-wfp-warns http://www.unocha.org/car http://reliefweb.int/country/caf Visit the related web page
	Unprecedented level of food insecurity in South Sudan by WFP, FAO, IPC , agencies   Aug. 2017   Extreme levels of food insecurity persist across South Sudan as conflict continues to limit access to typical food sources and, in some areas, the delivery of humanitarian assistance, reports the Famine Early Warning Service (FEWS-Net).   Emergency (IPC Phase 4) or Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes exist in all states, despite the start of the harvest. Some households on isolated islands along the White Nile in Leer of Unity and Ayod of Jonglei may be in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in the event they are unable to move in search of assistance.   National food production is expected to be below the five-year average, which will lead to low domestic supply in 2018 and a continuation of extremely high food prices.   At the household level, food availability is now expected to be lower than previously projected in Torit, Magwi, Budi, Juba, and Aweil Center due to crop damage from Fall Armyworm.   According to surveys conducted at the end of the 2017 lean season, acute malnutrition prevalences remain at Critical (GAM 15%) levels across the country. Given the expectation of below-average production, continued very poor macroeconomic conditions, and low access to nutrition services, the prevalence of acute malnutrition is expected to remain 'Critical' throughout the outlook period in all regions.   Despite efforts made to contain famine, 6 million people are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, the greatest number of food insecure people ever recorded in South Sudan, reports the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.   As of May 2017, 5.5 million people were estimated in Crisis (IPC Phase 3), Emergency (IPC Phase 4) and Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).   As of June-July 2017, the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance (IPC phase 3 and above) is estimated to rise to 6 million, out of which 45,000 are facing catastrophic conditions and extreme food gaps.   The economic crisis is hitting the whole society. However, the most affected populations are Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and the host communities affected by the ongoing conflict.   Armed conflict has resulted in massive population displacement, disruptions to people's livelihoods, trade and access to humanitarian assistance, which remains people's main source of food in conflict areas.   This is compounded by below-average food production and high food prices which have eroded household purchasing power.   http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipcinfo-website/where-what/east-and-central-africa/south-sudan/en/ http://www.fews.net/east-africa/south-sudan   Feb. 2017   Joint Statement on Famine in South Sudan. (WFP, FAO, Unicef)   The latest food security analysis in South Sudan has led to a declaration of famine in Leer and Mayendit counties in Greater Unity region. Two other counties are at risk of famine. The lives of some 100,000 people are threatened, and a further 1 million people are classified as being on the brink of famine.   'Famine has become a tragic reality in parts of South Sudan and our worst fears have been realised', said Serge Tissot, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Representative in South Sudan, in a news release issued jointly with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).   'Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive', he stated, explaining that these people are predominantly farmers who have lost their livestock, even their farming tools. A formal famine declaration means people have already started dying of hunger.   The situation is the worst hunger catastrophe since fighting erupted more than three years ago between rival forces,, the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) loyal to President Salva Kiir and the SPLA in Opposition backing First Vice-President Riek Machar.   The three UN agencies warned that urgent action is needed to prevent more people from dying of hunger.   According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) update released today by the government, the three agencies and other humanitarian partners, 4.9 million people - more than 40 percent of South Sudan's population - are in need of urgent food, agriculture and nutrition assistance.   The total number of food insecure people is expected to rise to 5.5 million at the height of the lean season in July if nothing is done to curb the severity and spread of the food crisis.   'More than one million children are currently estimated to be acutely malnourished across South Sudan; over a quarter of a million children are already severely malnourished. If we do not reach these children with urgent aid many of them will die', said Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in South Sudan.   'We have also warned that there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence of meaningful peace and security, both for relief workers and the crisis-affected people they serve', said WFP Country Director Joyce Luma.   Despite a substantial humanitarian response in South Sudan by FAO, UNICEF, WFP and partners, food insecurity has deteriorated to unprecedented levels.   We stand united in our appeal to all parties in South Sudanto facilitate immediate and safe access for humanitarian actors and to respect the humanitarian space as a wider famine can only be prevented if assistance is urgently scaled up and reaches those most in need.   Timely humanitarian interventions have averted a famine over the last three years, mitigating the worst effects of the crisis.   Today, almost 5 million South Sudanese are facing severe food insecurity, and are not only unable to meet their basic food needs but they also must sell critical assets in order to buy food. The situation is expected to continue deteriorating through the lean season, which begins in July 2017. People are dying of hunger. We must take action now'.   http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/famine-hits-parts-south-sudan http://features.iom.int/stories/let-peace-come/ http://reliefweb.int/report/south-sudan/unprecedented-level-food-insecurity-south-sudan-un-agencies-warn http://reliefweb.int/country/ssd http://stories.actionagainsthunger.org/south-sudan-hunger-crisis http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/south-sudan/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-south-sudan-crisis Visit the related web page
	View more stories