‘Risk of famine in Yemen, S Sudan, Nigeria’

Millions of people in conflict-hit Yemen, South Sudan and northern Nigeria are at risk of famine in the coming months or already facing it, two United Nations agencies warned on Tuesday.

Existing acute food insecurity, heavy constraints on humanitarian access, conflict, economic blows and climate shocks mean “urgent and at-scale targeted humanitarian action is needed to prevent hunger or death” in these areas, the groups said in a joint report.

The three areas were among 20 “hunger hotspots” identified by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) where existing acute food insecurity risks deteriorating further by July.

A specific sub-group — Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Haiti, Honduras, Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Yemen and Zimbabwe — are particularly at risk.

Parts of their populations are already experiencing “extreme depletion of livelihoods, insufficient food consumption and high acute malnutrition”, the joint report warned.

“In such fragile contexts, any further shocks could push a significant number of people over the brink and into destitution and even starvation,” it said. In parts of Jonglei state in South Sudan, the UN agencies said famine was already occurring, and “urgent, at-scale action is now needed to stop likely widespread starvation and death”.

Overall in South Sudan, some 7.2 million people are expected to be in food crisis — with high malnutrition or just marginally meeting minimal food needs — from April to July. Some 2.4 million people are classified as in an “emergency” situation, with 108,000 people in the agencies’ “catastrophe/famine” grouping.