NAIROBI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- Nearly 63 million people across the Horn of Africa region are grappling with dire food insecurity while 11 million children are acutely malnourished and in need of humanitarian assistance, an East African bloc said in a report released in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi on Thursday.
The Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Regional Focus of the 2024 Global Report on Food Crisis warns that conflicts, climate change, inflation, and elevated debts have worsened the hunger and malnutrition crisis in the region.
"These figures illustrate a humanitarian crisis in our region, climate extremes, and economic shocks are leading to unprecedented levels of food insecurity, putting millions of lives at risk," IGAD Executive Secretary Workneh Gebeyehu said during an online launch of the report.
Gebeyehu urged the seven IGAD member states, including Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, to enhance the resilience of local communities grappling with climate-induced food and water insecurity.
The lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, five consecutive failed rain seasons, El-Nino-linked flooding, and inter-communal skirmishes have escalated the hunger crisis in the Greater Horn of Africa region, the report said.
It added that 25 percent of the population analyzed in the seven IGAD countries will experience high levels of acute food insecurity in 2024, with the ongoing conflict in Sudan pushing millions to the brink of starvation.
The report blamed rampant poverty, illiteracy, resource-based conflicts, inequality, and climatic shocks for the elevated scarcity of staple food in a region where the number of hungry people rose from 61.9 million in 2023 to nearly 63 million in 2024.
Abdi Fidar, officer-in-charge at IGAD's affiliated Climate Prediction and Applications Center, said the region should tackle the primary drivers of hunger and malnutrition, such as conflicts, recurrent droughts, and environmental degradation, to avert a humanitarian crisis.
To build the resilience of local communities bearing the brunt of food insecurity, governments should invest in early-earning, climate-proof agriculture and ramp up contingency measures like preserving fodder and water for livestock, Fidar said. ■
