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The eastern Horn of Africa continues to experience acute hunger and food insecurity, according to FEWS Net. The region has faced multiple shocks in recent years, including a historic five-season drought, multiple conflicts, and economic shocks; all of these factors have contributed to drastically lowering agricultural and livestock productivity, reducing livelihoods, and driving poor populations into ever-worsening hunger.
IPC Phase 3 (Crisis) and 4 (Emergency) levels of food insecurity are rampant across the region, with clusters of households experiencing Phase 5 (Catastrophe). As reported in a February press release, Somalia continues to face the threat of famine and is relying on adequate rainfall and strong humanitarian aid to avert disaster.
The prices of staple foods across the region are significantly higher than average. These higher costs are being driven by poor regional and national cereal production, as well as by the high food, fuel, and input prices caused by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Populations across the region have reduced their food consumption, leading to extremely high levels of acute malnutrition, the report says. In parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, the prevalence of global acute malnutrition is higher than the 15 percent set by the World Health Organization as an “emergency threshold.”
Continuing humanitarian aid is needed to prevent worsening of the situation.