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ROME – The world has been put on a heightened famine alert with a new report by two United Nations agencies that contains a stark warning; four countries contain areas that could soon slip into famine if conditions there undergo “any further deterioration over the coming months.” These are Burkina Faso in West Africa’s Sahel region, northeastern Nigeria, South Sudan and Yemen. The Early Warning Analysis of Acute Food Insecurity Hotspots – issued today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) and the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) – describes a toxic combination of conflict, economic decline, climate extremes and the COVID-19 pandemic that is driving people further into the emergency phase of food insecurity.

Parts of the population in the four hotspots of highest concern are already experiencing a critical hunger situation, with the report warning that escalations in conflict as well as a further reduction in humanitarian access could lead to a risk of famine.

But these four countries are far from being the only red flag on a world map that shows that acute food insecurity levels are reaching new highs globally, driven by a combination of factors, the report notes. Another 16 countries are at high risk of rising levels of acute hunger.

The aim of the Hotspots report is to inform urgent action that can be taken now to avoid a major emergency – or series of emergencies – in three to six months from today. How the situation evolves in the highest risk countries will depend on conflict dynamics, food prices, and the myriad impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on their food systems, rainfall and harvest outcomes, humanitarian access, and the readiness of donors to continue funding humanitarian operations.

“This report is a clear call to urgent action,” said Dominique Burgeon, FAO’s Director of Emergencies and Resilience. “We are deeply concerned about the combined impact of several crises which are eroding people’s ability to produce and access food, leaving them more and more at risk of the most extreme hunger. We need access to these populations to ensure they have food and the means to produce food and improve their livelihoods to prevent a worst-case scenario.”

“We are at a catastrophic turning point. Once again, we face the risk of famine in four different parts of the world at the same time. When we declare a famine it means many lives have already been lost. If we wait to find that out for sure, people are already dead,” said Margot van der Velden, U.N. World Food Program Director of Emergencies.

“In 2011, Somalia suffered a famine that killed 260,000 people. The famine was declared in July, but most people had already died by May. We cannot let this happen again. We have a stark choice; urgent action today, or unconscionable loss of life tomorrow,” she warned.

Negative Trends Across the Board

All told, the joint report points to a total of 20 countries and contexts that are at “further risk of deterioration of acute food insecurity,” with key drivers of hunger including:

Expansion and intensification of violence
Economic crises exacerbated by COVID-19’s socioeconomic impact
Weather extremes
Transboundary threats like the Desert Locust
A lack of humanitarian access

It notes that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo there are 22 million people now estimated to be acutely food insecure – the highest number ever registered for a single country. Burkina Faso has registered the biggest increase with the numbers of desperately hungry people almost tripling compared to 2019, driven by increasing conflict, displacement and COVID-related impacts on employment and food access.

The situation is also dire in Yemen, where the existing food insecurity combined with conflict and a deepening economic crisis could lead to a further deterioration of an already critical food security situation.

Catastrophe/famine is the most severe of five phases used by the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system to chart escalating degrees of food insecurity. When this extreme phase is declared, it means that people have already started dying from starvation.

The Hotspots report is saying that, unless urgent action is now taken, the world could experience its first outbreak of famine since it was last declared in 2017 in parts of South Sudan.

This new report was developed under the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an alliance of humanitarian and development actors launched in 2016 by the European Union, FAO and the U.N. World Food Programme to tackle the root causes of food crises through shared analysis and knowledge, strengthened coordination in evidence-based responses, and collective efforts across the humanitarian, development and peace nexus.

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The U.N. World Food Programme is the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate. We are the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace, stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

For more information, please contact:

Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867, shaza.moghraby@wfp.org
Steve Taravella, WFP/ Washington, Mob. +1 202 770 5993, steve.taravella@wfp.org

ROME – A basic meal is far beyond the reach of millions of people in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic joins conflict, climate change and economic troubles in pushing up levels of hunger around the world, according to a new study released today by the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

The U.N. World Food Program’s Cost of a Plate of Food 2020 report highlights the countries where a simple meal such as rice and beans costs the most, when compared with people’s incomes. South Sudan is once again top of the list, with basic ingredients costing a staggering 186 percent of a person’s daily income. Seventeen of the top 20 countries featured in the index are in sub-Saharan Africa.

“This new report exposes the destructive impact of conflict, climate change and economic crises, now compounded by COVID-19, in driving up hunger,” said U.N. World Food Program’s Executive Director David Beasley. “It’s the most vulnerable people who feel the worst effects. Their lives were already on the edge – prior to the coronavirus pandemic we were looking at the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II – and now their plight is so much worse as the pandemic threatens nothing less than a humanitarian catastrophe.”

The report highlights conflict as a central driver for hunger in many countries, as it forced people from their homes, land and jobs, drastically reducing incomes and the availability of affordable food. The close connection between food security and peace was underlined last week when the U.N. World Food Programme was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work fighting hunger.

In the country with the most expensive plate of food, South Sudan, violence in the east has already displaced more than 60,000 people and is crippling harvests and livelihoods. This has combined with COVID-19 and climate shock to create the threat of famine.

Since the onset of the pandemic, the daily income spent on food by someone living in South Sudan has risen 27 points to 186 percent.

If a resident in New York State had to pay the same proportion of their salary for a basic meal, the meal would cost $393.

The Cost of a Plate of Food 2020 report is released as the U.N. World Food Programme estimates that the lives and livelihoods of up to 270 million people will be under severe threat in 2020, unless immediate action is taken to tackle the pandemic.

Burkina Faso is featured for the first time, with a surge in conflict along with climate changes, being the main drivers. The number of people facing crisis levels of hunger has tripled to 3.4 million people, while famine threatens 11,000 living in the northern provinces. Burundi is also on the index, as political instability, steep declines in remittances and disruptions to trade and employment leave it exposed to growing hunger.

Haiti is also featured among the top 20, with consumers spending more than a third of their daily incomes on a plate of food – the equivalent of $74 for someone in New York State. Imports account for more than half of food and 83 percent of rice consumed in Haiti, making it vulnerable to inflation and price volatility in international markets, especially during crises such as the current global pandemic.

“People in urban areas are now highly susceptible too, with COVID-19 leading to huge rises in unemployment, rendering people powerless to use the markets they depend on for food. For millions of people, missing a day’s wages means missing a day’s worth of food, for themselves and their children. This can also cause rising social tensions and instability,” said U.N. World Food Programme Executive Director Beasley.

U.N. World Food Programme support includes providing food and cash assistance, and helping governments extend their own safety nets. In South Sudan, on top of regular assistance to 5 million people, the U.N. World Food Programme will assist an additional 1.6 million – mostly in urban settings.

In the longer term, effective food systems are essential for access to affordable, nutritious food. The U.N. World Food Programme’s procurement of food means it has a critical role to play in improving the systems that produce food and bring it to people’s tables.

This is the third edition of the U.N. World Food Programme’s Cost of a Plate of Food report (formerly called Counting the Beans) with 36 countries featured this year. The report takes an estimated per capita average income across each country and calculates what percentage people must spend for a basic meal, some beans or lentils for example, and a carbohydrate matching local preferences. The price someone in New York State might pay was calculated by applying the meal-to-income ratio for someone in a developing country to a consumer in the US State.

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Photos available here

For more information, contact:

Shaza Moghraby, WFP/New York, Mob. + 1 929 289 9867
Steve Taravella, WFP/ Washington, Mob. +1 202 770 5993

JUBA – Recurring violence in Jonglei and the Greater Pibor Administrative Area in the eastern part of South Sudan has already displaced more than 60,000 people and is crippling the food security and livelihoods of growing numbers of people, two United Nations agencies warned today.

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) are concerned that the violence has halted farming, which will slash harvests for the rest of the year as well as depriving communities of livestock as a source of nutrition.

In addition, the violence has led to the looting of humanitarian food assistance that was meant to support the most vulnerable people.

“At the height of the main planting season, insecurity is preventing farmers from going to their fields to cultivate food crops and livestock keepers are not able to follow their traditional migratory patterns to graze their animals,” said Meshack Malo, FAO Representative in South Sudan.

“When cattle raiding is part of the violence, communities lose animals essential to their livelihoods and cannot participate in productive agricultural activities, leading to greater food security,” he added.

“We simply cannot replace the calories milk gives to children when livestock is taken and a year’s worth of milk is lost, and we barely have sufficient resources to meet current needs,” said Matthew Hollingworth, U.N. World Food Programme Country Director in South Sudan. “There will be no victors in this conflict: this violence risks causing long-term calamitous food insecurity across this region, for the rest of this year.”

More than 430 metric tons of U.N. World Food Programme food supplies have been lost from the looting of WFP and partner warehouses in the affected areas.

According to an Integrated Food Security Phase Classification report, the Pibor Administrative Area now faces emergency levels of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4). Earlier this year, three Jonglei counties had people who were classified in a “catastrophe” level of food insecurity (IPC Phase 5).

Their food security was only expected to improve if consistent humanitarian food assistance could be provided. But this has proved impossible because of the fighting in the area.

The violence in eastern South Sudan is adding to the number of hungry people just when the country is currently in its annual lean season with at least 6.5 million people – more than half the entire population – facing severe acute food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance.

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About FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

About WFP
The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

Contact:

WFP: Musa Mahadi, +211 929992054; musa.mahadi@wfp.org
FAO: Tanya Birkbeck, +211 920490149; Tanya.Birkbeck@fao.org

JUBA – For the first time since 2018, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has managed to send a humanitarian convoy from Kenya directly into South Sudan via the Nadapal Border crossing just as hunger is peaking in the country.

The nine-truck convoy, carrying 280 metric tons of food– enough to feed 20,000 people for a month—was loaded in Kenya’s port city of Mombasa and took three days to reach Kapoeta, east of South Sudan’s capital Juba. The U.N. World Food Programme had delivered millions of tons of relief cargo through the route before humanitarian deliveries were discontinued because of poor road conditions and insecurity.

“Our backs are against the wall and time is of the essence,” says Matthew Hollingworth, U.N. World Food Programme Country Director in South Sudan. “The effectiveness of our response will very much depend on how soon we get supplies into the country and move them to where they are needed the most.”

The re-opening of the route cuts travel times by half and will help speed up getting essential cargo into hard-hit areas of South Sudan before most roads close with the onset of the rainy season.

“We need to keep both humanitarian and commercial cargo flowing if we are to stand a chance to reduce the threat posed by a deadly combination of hunger and COVID-19,” adds Hollingworth.

South Sudan is reeling from multiple crises, not least the COVID-19 pandemic and an invasion of desert locusts in Equatoria state. Food security and livelihoods were already under severe threat in South Sudan before COVID-19.

More than 6.5 million people—half the country’s population—are expected to face severe food insecurity at the height of the hunger season in July. The virus, desert locust invasions and renewed violence in parts of the country will exacerbate food needs. An additional 1.5 million people are expected to require food assistance.

While South Sudan’s borders have remained open for cargo, allowing the United Nations to continue bringing in food, medical and other essential supplies, restrictions and lengthy delays at some border crossings are now threatening food security as cross-border trade has slowed down.

In view of the risk of spreading the virus when people move, the U.N. World Food Programme – in conjunction with health and transport authorities – is establishing COVID-19 testing facilities at the border post to screen for COVID-19 among truck drivers and other workers.

The U.N. World Food Programme imports an average of 325,000 metric tons of food annually into South Sudan to cover food gaps and complement locally grown foods. While some food is purchased in the country, the bulk is imported by road through three main corridors in the South, West and North of the country.

The southern corridor, from Mombasa and through Kenya and Uganda, remains a key artery both for the country’s economy and WFP’s response, accounting for half of South Sudan’s imports.

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The U.N. World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Tomson Phiri, WFP/South Sudan, Mob. +211 922 465 247
Peter Smerdon, WFP/Nairobi, Tel. + 254 20 7622 179, Mob. +254 707 722 104

NAIROBI – The dire socio-economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic may more than double the number of hungry people in East Africa and the Horn over the next three months, a report from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has found.

The most vulnerable and at risk are poor urban communities living hand-to-mouth in informal settlements, and millions of refugees located in densely populated camps across the region.

An estimated 20 million people already faced acute food insecurity in nine countries before COVID-19 arrived in East Africa and the Horn, with numerous food crises, a massive outbreak of desert locusts and extensive flooding threatening millions across the region, which includes Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Djibouti and Eritrea.

WFP projects that the number of acutely food insecure people is likely to increase to between 34 and 43 million from May through July due to the socio-economic impact of the pandemic. If the number of hungry reaches 43 million, it would have more than doubled. Among the hungry may be 3.3 million refugees spread across the nine countries.

“A shortage of funding already means most refugees in the region are not receiving all the food they need, and they could face further cuts as scarce resources become even more over-stretched,” said UNHCR Regional Director Clementine Nkweta Salami.

“High levels of malnutrition in densely populated camps and settlements make refugees particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 outbreak,” she added. “Some refugees also live in urban areas, often in the poorest informal settlements, representing a significant proportion of the urban poor in many countries in the region.”

“COVID-19 is unprecedented as it affects not just one country or region, but the whole world. It is not just a supply side problem, such as drought, or a demand side issue such as a recession – it is both at the same time and on a global scale,” said WFP Deputy Regional Director Brenda Behan.

“More people are expected to die from the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 than from the virus itself,” she said. “And refugees and the urban poor across the region are at greatest risk.”

Some half of the urban population in the region lives in informal urban settlements or slums, with 25 million people living hand-to-mouth each day. Millions have already lost their jobs as economies falter amid lockdowns and curfews to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Governments and humanitarian organizations are scrambling to address the loss of food security for many families in urban areas, or risk the destabilizing effects of urban unrest.

WFP has a funding shortfall of $103 million to provide full food rations or full cash transfers to more than 3 million refugees in the nine countries in the region through September.

With governments in the region imposing restrictions delaying cross-border trade because of fears that truck drivers are spreading COVID-19, WFP calls for cooperation to keep both commercial and humanitarian goods flowing so people receive the right food at the right time.

COVID-19 is spreading across the region at the same time as fears are increasing that new swarms of desert locusts, particularly in Ethiopia, Kenya and near Somalia may eat newly planted crops ahead of the main harvest from July to September. Floods during the current long rains are another additional threat to people and food supplies in much of the region.

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The United Nations World Food Programme is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.

A link to the WFP report is here: https://docs.wfp.org/api/documents/WFP-0000115462/download/

For more information please contact (email address: firstname.lastname@wfp.org):

Peter Smerdon, WFP/Nairobi Tel. + 254 20 7622179, Mob. +254 707 722104

Joint statement by QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Mark Lowcock, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator; and David Beasley, Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

East Africa is a region beset by climate- and conflict-related shocks. Millions of people are already acutely food insecure. Now they face another major hunger threat in the form of desert locusts.

The locust upsurge affecting East Africa is a graphic and shocking reminder of this region’s vulnerability. This is a scourge of biblical proportions. Yet as ancient as this scourge is, its scale today is unprecedented in modern times.

On January 20th, FAO called for $76 million to help combat this pest crisis. But the resources to control the outbreak have been too slow in coming.

Since FAO launched its first appeal to help what was then three affected countries, the locust swarms have moved rapidly across vast distances and the full extent of their massive scale has become clear. Since our last op-ed pleading for action on February 12th, swarms have been sighted in Djibouti, Eritrea, South Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania.

Each day, more countries are affected. Last week, a swarm crossed into one of Africa’s most food-insecure and fragile countries, South Sudan. Just this week, it was confirmed that one swarm reached the eastern boundaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo – a country that has not seen a locust incursion since 1944. Needless to say, the potential impact of locusts on a country still grappling with complex conflict, Ebola and measles outbreaks, high levels of displacement, and chronic food insecurity would be devastating.

As the locusts continue their invasion throughout eastern Africa, and more details emerge about the scale of need in affected areas, the cost of action has already doubled to $138 million. FAO urgently needs this money to help Governments control these devastating pests, especially in the next four months.

This funding will ensure that activities to control the locusts can take place before new swarms emerge. It will also provide help for people whose crops or pastures are already affected, to protect their families and their livelihoods.

Desert locusts have a reproduction cycle of three months. Today, mature swarms are laying eggs within vast areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, many of which are already hatching. In just a few weeks, the next generation of the pests will transition from their juvenile stage and take wing in a renewed frenzy of destructive swarm activity. This will be just as farmers’ crops begin to sprout.

The next wave of locusts could devastate East Africa’s most important crop of the year, right when it is at its most vulnerable.

But that doesn’t have to happen. The window of opportunity is still open. The time to act is now.

Anticipatory action to control and contain the locusts before the new swarms take flight and farmers crops first break soil is critical. At the same time, FAO needs more resources to immediately begin boosting the resilience of affected communities so they can better withstand some inevitable shocks. Acting now to avert a food crisis is a more humane, effective and cost-efficient approach than responding to the aftermath of disaster.

We welcome the response so far from many international donors. To date, $33 million has been received or committed. But the funding gaps are clear, and needs are growing too rapidly. We need to do more. WFP has estimated the cost of responding to the impact of locusts on food security alone to be at least 15 times higher than the cost of preventing the spread now.

It is time for the international community to act more decisively. The math is clear, as is our moral obligation. Pay a little now, or pay a lot more later.

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The United Nations World Food Programme – saving lives in emergencies and changing lives for millions through sustainable development. WFP works in more than 80 countries around the world, feeding people caught in conflict and disasters, and laying the foundations for a better future.

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Juba – Some 6.5 million people in South Sudan – more than half of the population – could be in acute food insecurity at the height of this hunger season (May-July), three United Nations agencies warned today.

The situation is particularly worrying in the areas hardest hit by the 2019 floods, where food security has deteriorated significantly since last June according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report released today by the Government of South Sudan, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

Particularly at risk are 20,000 people who from February through April will be suffering from the most extreme levels of hunger (“catastrophe” level of food insecurity, or IPC 5) in Akobo, Duk and Ayod counties that were hit by heavy rains last year and need urgent and sustained humanitarian support.

Hunger is projected to get progressively worse between now and July, mainly in Jonglei, Upper Nile, Warrap and Northern Bar el-Ghazal, with over 1.7 million people facing an “emergency” level of food insecurity (IPC Phase 4) due to the impacts of devastating floods and low levels of food production. Thirty-three counties will reach an “emergency” level of food insecurity during the hunger season, up from 15 in January

Overall, in January, 5.3 million South Sudanese people were already struggling to feed themselves, or were in “crisis” or worse (IPC Phase 3 and above) levels of food insecurity.

“Despite some seasonal improvements in food production, the number of hungry people remains dangerously high, and keeps rising. On top of that, we are now faced with Desert Locusts swarms that could make this even worse. It is important that we maintain and scale up our support to the people of South Sudan so they can resume or improve their livelihoods and food production, and boost the government’s capacity to respond to the locust outbreak,” said Meshack Malo, FAO Representative in South Sudan.

Hunger is expected to deepen as of February due mainly to depleted food stocks and high food prices. Overall, the cumulative effects of flooding and related population displacement, localized insecurity, economic crisis, low crop production and prolonged years of asset depletion continue to keep people hungry.

“The food security situation is dire,” said Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s Country Director in South Sudan.

“Any kind of improvement which had been made was counter-balanced by the floods at the end of 2019, particularly for the hardest to reach communities. But this country is at a pivotal moment. This Saturday the government of national unity should be formed and the gun silenced permanently. We will have to do more to meet the urgent needs of the most vulnerable as well as ensure communities across the country can recover so that in the future they can withstand inevitable climatic and foods shocks.”

The report also notes that the country’s relative peace and stability have led to some improvements in the overall food security situation, with the upcoming lean season expected to be slightly less severe compared to last year’s, when 6.9 million people were in “crisis” or worse food insecurity.

For example, since the signing of the Revitalised Peace Agreement in September 2018, cereal production has increased by 10 percent, and a more stable environment allowed some of the farmers to resume their livelihoods, which combined with favorable rains has led to increased food production.

1.3 Million Children Malnourished

The report also estimates that 1.3 million children will suffer from acute malnutrition in 2020.

Between 2019 and 2020, the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children slightly increased from 11.7 to 12.6 percent across the country, but the increase has been considerably higher in flood-affected counties – from 19.5 to 23.8 percent in Jonglei, and from 14 to 16.4 percent in Upper Nile. This can be attributed to less food being available and high morbidity – mainly due to contaminated water and an upsurge in malaria from stagnant water.

“Over the years, and with support from donors, we have become good at treating malnutrition. With support from UNICEF and its partners, 92 percent of all children suffering from severe acute malnutrition received assistance and more than nine out of ten recovered. Yet, these children shouldn’t be malnourished in the first place. Access to enough food, the right food, water, sanitation, hygiene and health services are human rights and key to preventing malnutrition. There is a need for a paradigm shift with a multisectoral approach to malnutrition, ensuring we get just as good at prevention as we are at treatment,” said Mohamed Ag Ayoya, the UNICEF Representative in South Sudan.

Responding to the Crisis

In 2020, WFP plans to assist some 5 million people, providing lifesaving food to the most vulnerable, food assistance to communities to build or rehabilitate their assets, school meals and special nutritious products to prevent and treat malnutrition among children and pregnant or nursing women. WFP urgently needs $208 million over the next six months to meet immediate needs and boost people’s resilience. WFP plans to pre-position 190,000 metric tons of food in over 60 warehouses before the onset of the rains in May to save lives and reduce costs, making expensive airdrops unnecessary when many areas become unreachable by road.

FAO, in 2019, provided emergency livelihood support – including seeds, farming tools and fishing kits – to over 3.5 million people in South Sudan, and treated or vaccinated some 8 million animals. FAO also supported over 60,000 flood-affected families to help them reboot their livelihoods. This year, FAO aims to increase food production and protect livelihoods by distributing seeds, farming tools, fishing and vegetable kits, and providing cash assistance to people most in need. FAO is also carrying out livestock vaccination and treatment to protect over 3 million animals from diseases and malnutrition. FAO appeals for $75 million for its 2020 response program.

In 2019, UNICEF and its partners helped an unprecedented number of children in the country – over 200,000 – recover from severe acute malnutrition. For 2020, there is a need for a paradigm shift with a stronger inter-sectoral approach to change the course (through timely nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive interventions at critical points in children’s lifetimes), to reduce malnutrition dramatically. UNICEF appeals for $253 million to treat more malnourished children and intensify prevention efforts through intersectoral interventions in areas of nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, health and communication for development.

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For more information contact:

WFP: Tomson Phiri, WFP South Sudan; +211 922 465 247; tomson.phiri@wfp.org | Peter Smerdon, WFP Nairobi; +254 20 762 2179; Peter.Smerdon@wfp.org | James Belgrave, WFP Rome; +39 3665294297; James.Belgrave@wfp.org

FAO: Mattia Romano, FAO South Sudan; +211 917 043 531; mattia.romano@fao.org | Adel Sarkozi; FAO Media Relations (Rome); (+39) 06 570 52537; adel.sarkozi@fao.org

UNICEF: Helene Sandbu Ryeng, UNICEF, South Sudan; +211 92 161 5824; hsryeng@unicef.org | Yves Willemot, UNICEF South Sudan; +211 912 162 888; ywillemot@unicef.org

Negative Trends Across the Board

HAITI IN CRISIS

HAITI IN CRISIS