Famine threatens some African countries, FAO and WFP say

To feel the need to sound the alarm, the FAO and the WFP point out, in a report published at the end of the first week of November, a combination of factors which “push the populations deeper into the emergency phase of food insecurity ”. These are conflicts, economic decline, the extreme climate situation and the Covid-19 pandemic which has strongly impacted economic and social structures. The report points out that “the map of the world shows that rates of acute food insecurity are reaching new heights globally.” A conclusion that allows him to point to sixteen countries across the planet in addition to the four African countries that the UN agencies consider to be strongly threatened by the increase in levels of acute hunger.

African countries concerned

On the continent, the four regions or countries at risk of falling into a famine situation are Burkina Faso, located in the Sahel region of West Africa, northeastern Nigeria and South Sudan. According to UN organizations, “some of the people living in these homes face a critical hunger situation”. At issue: the escalation of conflicts and the increased difficulties in accessing humanitarian aid. Thus, on the continent, Ethiopia, Somalia, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Sudan are considered countries at risk.

To slow, if not stop, this momentum, FAO and WFP hope that uncovering this reality should help take immediate action to avoid a major crisis or a series of crises “within three to six months”. Among the factors identified to favorably develop the situation, there is the necessary “improvement of the conditions of access to humanitarian aid and the continuation of the financing of humanitarian interventions”.