IN FOCUS & FOOD INSECURITY HOTSPOTS
From the October IPC Report: An estimated 3.9 million people or 34% of the population in South Sudan are classified as severely food and nutrition insecure. An estimated 30,000 people in Unity State are currently experiencing Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) with a concrete risk of famine occurring between October and December 2015 if urgent humanitarian access and assistance is not provided. More than 40% of Yemen's population has poor or borderline food consumption, with the country's 1.4 million IDPs most affected. High prices and limited availability of food, increasing unemployment and low humanitarian access are the main drivers of food insecurity.
WFP's recent food security assessment indicates that food insecurity in Syria has reached worrying proportions, with one in three households being food insecure. IDPs are the most food insecure group, with 40% food insecure.
According to the regional vulnerability assessment committee, some 13.4 million people in Southern Africa are at risk of food and livelihood insecurity, a 13% increase from the previous year. There have been major increases in vulnerability in Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Insecurity in northeastern Nigeria and in bordering areas of neighbouring countries has prompted the internal displacement of more than 1.58 million people. In addition, 135,000 people have left Nigeria for Niger, Cameroun and Chad.
Some 2.3 million people are food insecure as a result of a second year of dry weather in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.
In Haiti, the Government through the Ministry of Agriculture estimated that as of late September, between 300,000 and 560,000 people are facing food insecurity at crisis levels. A more recent estimate by Fewsnet suggests that in the absence of assistance, by March 2016 up to 1.5 million people in Haiti will be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3).
The food security situation in the earthquake-affected districts of Nepal has improved since May. Nevertheless, some more remote districts are still classified as facing crisis and emergency food insecurity.
The on-going El Nino phenomenon will continue throughout 2015 and is likely to extend into the first quarter of 2016. El Nino has affected most growing seasons in the northern hemisphere and is expected to affect those of southern Africa, Indonesia and the Pacific, and South America from late 2015 to early 2016.