Over 50 million people in Eastern Africa will face acute food insecurity this year, according to a new study backed by the World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Issued by the region’s Inter-Governmental Authority on Development, the IGAD Regional Focus on Food Crises report sounds the alarm over escalating food insecurity and malnutrition in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.

“The current food security situation across the Horn of Africa is dire after four consecutive rainy seasons have failed, a climatic event not seen in at least 40 years, or since the beginning of the satellite era,” said Chimimba David Phiri, FAO Subregional Coordinator for Eastern Africa.

“Now more than ever, we must implement short-term livelihood-saving responses with long-term resilience building aimed at addressing the root causes of food crises in our region”.
Danger level high

This year, about 300,000 people in Somalia and South Sudan are projected to face the highest level of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale - level 5, meaning an extreme lack of food – with the risk of famine occurring in eight areas of Somalia, should widespread crop and livestock production fail.

The 2022 situation marks a dramatic increase from last year, when 42 million people suffered from high levels of acute food insecurity.

In 2021, the IGAD region accounted for nearly 22 per cent of the global number of people in crisis or worse (IPC Phase 3 or above), with an estimated 10 million children under five, suffering from acute malnutrition.

In addition, 24 per cent of the world’s 51 million internally displaced were also in IGAD countries, mainly Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan.