The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is urgently appealing for funds to provide life-saving food assistance to two million people in Malawi who are facing the devastating effects of drought. Today's appeal comes just days after Malawi's President Lazarus Chakwera declared a state of disaster. Malawi, like other countries in Southern Africa, is grappling with the effects of a severe period of dry weather, exacerbated by the effects of the El Niño phenomenon.
Malawi
International donor funding to alleviate hunger in the world's neediest countries plummeted in 2023, despite exacerbating global food insecurity reaching record highs, aid agencies warn. Humanitarian appeals for the 17 countries bearing the brunt of food insecurity suffered a staggering funding gap of 65 percent last year, up 23 percent from 2022, according to an analysis released this week by the humanitarian organization Action Against Hunger.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warn that acute food insecurity is likely to deteriorate further in 18 hunger hotspots – comprising a total of 22 countries or territories including two regions – during the period from November 2023 to April 2024.
The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Martin Griffiths, has released US$125 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) to boost underfunded humanitarian operations in fourteen countries in Africa, Asia, the Americas and the Middle East. Afghanistan and Yemen top the recipient list with $20 million each.
The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says a funding shortfall has forced it to cut by one-half food rations for more than 50,000 people in Malawi at the country's only refugee camp. The food cuts come at a time when refugees at the Dzaleka camp, who are mainly from the Great Lakes region, are already facing deteriorating food security.
Acute food insecurity is set to increase in magnitude and severity in 18 hunger hotspots comprising a total of 22 countries, a new UN early warning report has found. The analysis issued Monday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) calls for urgent humanitarian action to save lives and livelihoods and prevent starvation and death in countries where acute hunger is at a high risk of worsening from June to November 2023.
At least 573,000 children under five are at risk of suffering from malnutrition in Malawi, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned Friday. Despite recent progress in reducing chronic malnutrition, acute food insecurity, compounded by recurrent climate shocks, preventable disease outbreaks, economic instability, and chronic underfunding, threatens to reverse past gains, UNICEF said.
The United Nations (UN) and humanitarian partners in Malawi are calling for $70.6 million to help more than a million people who were affected by Tropical Cyclone Freddy. In March 2023, one of the longest-lasting tropical storms on record hit Malawi, causing extensive damage, claiming the lives of hundreds of people, leaving more than 650,000 people homeless, and affecting some 2.3 million people.
In Malawi and Mozambique, the longest-lasting tropical cyclone on record has left a trail of destruction and continues to cause extensive damage and loss of lives from torrential rains and strong winds. Cyclone Freddy hit Mozambique a second time on Saturday night and has before devastated parts of Malawi, killed at least 292 people in both countries, and left tens of thousands homeless. Dozens of people are reported missing.
The United Nations and humanitarian partner organizations in Malawi have launched a Flash Appeal Monday to assist 4 million people, including 56,000 refugees and asylum-seekers, who have been hardest-hit by cholera and are at highest-risk of the disease. Local health experts say if urgent action isn't taken to scale up the response, the number of cases could double in the next few months.