“We are seeing an upsurge in epidemics and the highest number of malnourished children in years,” the UN organization said.
The number is terrifying. Some 129,000 people have reached the maximum level of food insecurity in the Greater Horn of Africa region, which has been plagued by a terrible drought for several years, warned on Friday March 10, the World Health Organization ( WHO). “When I talk about the Greater Horn of Africa, I am referring to Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan and Uganda”explained a WHO official in the region, Liesbeth Aelbrecht, by videoconference from Nairobi (Kenya).
In this region, she said, “We are seeing an upsurge in epidemics [rougeole, dengue, choléra, paludisme] and the highest number of malnourished children in years, with millions affected, all against a backdrop of deteriorating food insecurity prospects.” According to the WHO, 48 million people face a critical level of food insecurity in the region.
Conditions worse than the 2011 drought
Among these 48 million people, 6 million are in a situation of food insecurity of“emergency” (Phase 4 of the Integrated Phase Classification of Food Security, IPC) and 129,000 in situation of “disaster” (phase 5), the maximum level. Of those 129,000, 33,000 are in South Sudan and 96,000 in Somalia, according to Liesbeth Aelbrecht. People in phase 5 “look death in the face”assured the WHO.
According to the Climate Prediction and Applications Center (ICPAC) of Igad, a group of East African countries, current conditions are worse than before the 2011 drought that led to famine and deaths of thousands of people. This region is one of the most vulnerable to climate change, with increasingly frequent and intense crises.
The five consecutive failed rainy seasons have so far caused the death of millions of livestock, the destruction of crops, and forced millions of people to leave their areas to find water and food elsewhere.