ReliefWeb

In Numbers

US$107,000 of cash-for-food assistance distributed to drought-affected IDPs in Herat

8,200mt of food dispatched to assist 970,000 vulnerable people in August 2018

US$82.1 m six months funding requirements (September 2018-February 2019)

Operational Updates

• Afghanistan’s drought will be more severe than initially expected, according to observations from the emergency food security assessment (EFSA).
  The data are currently under analysis and findings will be released in mid-September.

• The situation in Badghis Province is especially desperate, as the drought has forced over 120,000 people from their homes to the Provincial Centre,
  Qala-e-Naw, with little shelter, food or water and sanitation. WFP and other agencies have been responding, though they face significant challenges.

• WFP Afghanistan’s overall response to the drought has three phases. Phase 1, the early response was completed in June and targeted 14 provinces and reached 463,000 people. Under phase 2, the enhanced response, which started in July and is ongoing, WFP has dispatched 9,500mt of mixed commodities for 441,000 drought-affected people.
  Phase 3, the full-scale response, will begin in late September, and is based on initial plans to provide food assistance to 1.4 million people.

• In August, WFP reached over 320,000 women, men, boys and girls affected by the drought in Badghis,
  Faryab, Ghor, Herat and Jawzjan as part of the ‘enhanced response’.

• WFP will update its targeting of the full-scale drought response according to the findings of the EFSA, which will likely require a noticeable increase in the number of people targeted, the duration of assistance and/or the household ration.

• Aside from drought, insecurity continues to be a persistent threat to food security. Fighting in Ghazni in August placed 33,000 people in need of life-saving assistance while fighting across the country has displaced over 200,000 in 2018.

• WFP already requires USD 81.4 million to sustain its current programmes under the Country Strategic Plan (2018-2022) for the next six months, however this will increase to meet growing drought-response needs.

• The United Nations Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) transported 1,900 aid workers and 6.0mt of light cargo. In Afghanistan, 160 organizations rely on UNHAS to reach populations in need.