Information Update on Drought Response by the UN System - Number 5- September/October 2024

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

IPC 2024 result published: An estimated 5.8 million people (33 percent of the analysed population) will likely experience heightened hunger between October 2024 and March 2025. The IPC projects that nearly 5.6 million people will likely experience IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) and 236,000 people IPC Phase 4 (Emergency). Seven additional districts are projected to move from IPC Phase 2 (Stressed) to Phase 3 – corresponding to 89 hotspot districts in Zambia. To prevent this dire situation, urgent lifesaving and livelihood assistance is imperative.

UN Interagency Mission Highlights Urgent Need to Scale Up Drought Response in Sioma: From 29 September to 03 October, a UN Interagency mission visited Sioma in Zambia's Western Province to monitor ongoing drought response interventions. The team met the District Commissioner and visited several key sites, including cash distribution points, a rural health clinic, mini hospital, a school, and local markets while also holding group discussions with farmers to better understand their situation. The mission found that despite the ongoing assistance, needs remained high, with many people continuing to rely on negative coping strategies. It is crucial to scale up response activities in the coming months and provide agricultural inputs as soon as possible to enable communities grow food during the upcoming rainy season, building resilience against future shocks.

Childhood Vulnerability: Over 3 million children under 18 years old, including 1.2 million children under the age of 5, are facing prolonged food insecurity, with a high risk of common childhood illnesses, vaccine preventable disease outbreaks, and malnutrition, as reported by the SMART Survey in May 2024; to address the vulnerability to malnutrition, UNICEF, working with Government and other partners have supported treatment of 7,051 children for Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM), inclusive of oedema cases, while 16,288 children were treated for (Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM), from March to September 2024 in the drought affected districts.