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More than 350,000 people already face catastrophic conditions in Tigray
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UNICEF says an estimated 33,000 severely malnourished children in Tigray are at high risk of death
Rome – The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and UNICEF have called for urgent action to address the dramatic acute food insecurity in northern Ethiopia.
The three agencies are particularly concerned about the situation in the Tigray region where the risk of famine is imminent, unless food, livelihood assistance and other life-saving interventions continue to be scaled-up, unimpeded access is guaranteed, and hostilities cease, reads a statement issued by the FAO on Thursday.
The call came in response to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis, released Thursday.
The IPC is a global, multi-partner initiative— comprising 15 UN agencies, regional organizations and international and non-governmental organizations—that facilitates improved decision-making through the provision of consensus-based food insecurity and malnutrition analysis.
According to the report, over 350 000 people are already facing catastrophic conditions (IPC 5, Catastrophe) in the Tigray region. This is the highest number of people classified in IPC 5 Catastrophe in a single country in the last decade.
Over 60 percent of the population, more than 5.5 million people, grapple with high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC 3-5) in Tigray and the neighboring zones of Amhara and Afar. Of these, 2 million people are in the Emergency level of acute food insecurity (IPC 4) and without urgent action could quickly slide into starvation.
The severity of acute food insecurity is expected to increase through September, particularly in Tigray, with over 400 000 people projected to face catastrophic conditions (IPC 5, Catastrophe) without urgent and unhindered aid.
The UN agencies are particularly concerned by the risk of famine in Tigray if the conflict escalates and humanitarian assistance is significantly hampered. The lack of reliable and comprehensive data on people’s food security situation in western Tigray is also deeply worrying.
“UNICEF is extremely concerned about the situation across Tigray as we see more and more young children and babies slide dangerously close to sickness and potential death from malnutrition,” said UNICEF executive director Henrietta Fore.
“An estimated 33,000 severely malnourished children in currently inaccessible areas in Tigray are at high risk of death. The world cannot permit that to happen,” she said.