Humanitarian food assistance: According to the Sudan Humanitarian Update of 19 October 2023, intensified fighting across Sudan, looting, fuel shortages, and rising criminality, combined with a lack of commitment by belligerent groups to facilitate aid, continue to be significant barriers to humanitarian partners’ ability to provide humanitarian assistance where needed most. After six consecutive weeks of postponement of the movement of supplies going to Darfur and Kordofan states due to ongoing fighting in El Obeid and poor road conditions between Tendelti in White Nile and Wad Ashana in North Kordofan, a convoy finally left Kosti bound for El Fasher on 18 October. Over the past week, thanks to the cross-border response from Chad, 133.56 MT of humanitarian aid were transported by eight trucks to West Darfur (El Geneina, Ardamata, and Kulbus) and Zalingei in Central Darfur. Overall, despite various challenges, a total of 163,875 metric tons (MT) of relief items on 3,551 trucks have been delivered to Darfur, Kordofan, and other states since 22 May 2023. Among these, 65,612 MT (1,553 trucks) were for distribution, 97,593 MT (1,968 trucks) were for prepositioning, and 670 MT (30 trucks) were intended for both distribution and prepositioning.
Malnutrition: As widely documented, the conflict has caused extensive destruction and disruption to health, water, and sanitation facilities and services, disruption in access to food and income, and large-scale displacement, all factors that are expected to be contributing to deteriorating health and nutrition conditions. Diseases outbreaks have been increasingly reported at alarming levels that are further aggravating the situation – as of late-October, at least 1,618 suspected cases of cholera reported in 3 states of Gadarif South Kordofan, and Khartoum, 4,166 measles cases had been reported in 11 states, and 3,414 cases of dengue reported in 6 states. While data remains limited, UNICEF reported large increases in admissions of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in areas receiving high number of IDPS when compared to the same time last year. In September, the organization estimated that there were likely 3.4 million children under 5 years old acutely malnourished, of which about 700,000 were likely severely malnourished.
Current Food Security Outcomes: In October 2023, the pre-harvest season in Sudan, acute food insecurity outcomes slightly improved relative to the peak of the lean season as agricultural and agro-pastoral households particularly in the relatively secure rural areas of eastern and southeastern states began to access the green harvest from the ongoing main agricultural season, receive in-kind payments from agricultural labor and have better access to animal products (milk and meat) with the improved livestock body conditions. This has led to Stressed (IPC Phase 2) outcomes in parts of El Gadarif, Sennar, Al Jazirah, and Kassala State. However, most areas in the Northern and River Nile states remained in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) as wheat stocks have depleted faster than normal in advance of this year’s winter wheat cultivation season under the added strain of high levels of displacement. Winter wheat planting is expected to start in November with harvests to begin in March and is anticipated to be negatively impacted by the forecasted above-average temperatures and high costs of inputs. In parts of Blue Nile and White Nile, Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes persist due to insecurity and high levels of displacement that have reduced crop production and disrupted trade flows into these areas.
In most of the conflict-affected areas of Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, food security outcomes are likely to improve relative to the lean season but will remain poor amid ongoing conflict and insecurity, significantly affecting population movements. Insecurity and displacement have meant that many have been unable to access fields at critical times during the season, such as during the cultivation period, as occurred most notably in El Geneina of West Darfur, or during later weeding and harvesting periods, such as occurred around Nyala and Kadugli due to continued fighting and insecurity. As a result, a greater share of households are facing reduced access to own produced food, as well as limited access to their main livelihood and income source options. The poor macroeconomic situation, anticipated high staple food prices, and reduced physical access to markets are likely to further reduce households’ ability to meet their basic food and non-food needs. As such, most areas of Greater Kordofan and Greater Darfur are expected to remain in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) with considerable portion of the poor groups facing Emergency (IPC Phase 4) food security outcomes, particularly in localities with urban centers under attack.
In El Geneina, where some households were expected to be Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in the peak of the lean season, the reduction in conflict following the local ceasefire in early September has improved household mobility in search of food and income and enabled some humanitarian assistance to arrive in affected areas from across the Chad border. While the timing of the fighting barred households in the most heavily conflict-affected areas of El Geneina from cultivating and thus are unlikely to have any harvest, the increased access to other income sources including petty trade and self-employment, as well as community support and food assistance, is likely to have mitigated the most severe outcomes, although the area remains in Emergency (IPC Phase 4).
In Khartoum, most localities remain in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) with atypically high proportion of households facing Emergency (IPC Phase 4) outcomes in October, except in Omdurman which is assessed to be in Emergency (IPC Phase 4). In the latter, the deterioration is due to the persistent bombardment in this densely populated area with heavy dependence on casual wage labor that has caused severe damage to main markets and curtailed household mobility. In other surrounding localities, most populations have moved to peripheral areas with slightly improved access to food and income sources, although still poor given major disruption to typical income sources and very high food prices.
Source link : https://fews.net/east-africa/sudan/food-security-outlook/october-2023
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Publish date : 2023-10-22 07:00:00
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