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East Africa Key Message Update, August 2017

Countries
Yemen
+ 3 more
Sources
FEWS NET
Publication date
Origin
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Major food security Emergencies continue across the region due to conflict, drought

Key Messages

  • A major food security Emergency is expected to continue into early 2018 in the Somali Region of Ethiopia, following a severe drought over the past year. Large food consumption gaps among worst-affected households, in combination with serious outbreaks of Acute Watery Diarrhea and measles are contributing to atypically high levels of acute malnutrition. Given the severity of current and projected food security outcomes, the resumption of large-scale assistance is critically needed to prevent worst-affected pastoral areas from moving into Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

  • Poor households in the Hiraan, Bakool, Gedo, Lower Shabelle, and Middle Shabelle agropastoral areas of central and southern Somalia are likely to remain in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and Emergency (IPC Phase 4) through 2017 with the greatest food insecurity expected after September, when households exhaust food stocks. In the event that there is a significant interruption to current food assistance programs and higher prices further reduce household food access, Famine (IPC Phase 5) is possible.

  • A large-scale food security Emergency continues across South Sudan, with over half of the total population in need of humanitarian assistance. An estimated 10,000 people on isolated islands in the White Nile River, between Leer and Jonglei, remain of greatest concern. Recent field assessments have confirmed that some island locations remain inaccessible to humanitarian actors and it is expected populations on these islands lack access to emergency assistance. It is feared outcomes may be worse among these populations and some households could be in Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5).

  • In Yemen, large populations continue to face Crisis (IPC Phase 3) or Emergency (IPC Phase 4) acute food insecurity, with outcomes likely most severe among the nearly 2 million IDPs. Yemen continues to face a risk of Famine (IPC Phase 5) in a worst-case scenario in which imports through Al Hudaydah and Salif ports and internal trade are significantly disrupted, and humanitarian assistance fails to reach populations most in need. Appropriate response is also needed to address a major, ongoing cholera outbreak and mitigate the risk of increased acute malnutrition and mortality, particularly among populations facing both food consumption gaps and cholera.