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Death toll from Uganda’s food crisis hits 19, gov’t begins food relief distribution

News APA-Kampala (Uganda)
Ethiopia, Adadle 22 January 2022 WFP Regional Director Michael Dunford visit to an IDP camp in Adadle district in the Somali region where he met the communities and heard directly from them on the impact of the drought. Photo: WFP/Claire NevillEthiopia is experiencing prolonged drought with three consecutive poor rainy seasons, the first time in four decades; three consecutive rainy seasons have failed since late 2020. There are indications that the next rainy season in March/April 2022 may also be well below normal. The intense and ongoing drought will cause significant food and income loss, worsening food insecurity through mid-2022. Crisis (IPC Phase 3) outcomes are expected in southern and south-eastern pastoral areas in the coming months, with some households facing Emergency (IPC Phase 4) levels of hunger. According to the Somali Region Drought Response Plan December 2021: • up to 3.3 million people are likely to require food assistance in the next three months. • 2.2 million people are facing water shortages and need urgent water trucking. • 173,000 children under 5 years of age and pregnant and lactating women are malnourished. • 260,000 livestock have died, signalling growing stresses and vulnerability to human populations. These challenges are exacerbating longer-term difficulties linked to COVID-19, inflation, desert locust invasions, poor infrastructure, and drought. • During a nutritional screening conducted in the Somali Region in December 2021, 22 percent of children and a third of pregnant and breastfeeding women were found to be wasted. All zones exceeded the emergency Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) threshold of 15 percent, and eight of 11 zones having higher than 20 percent prevalence. Response WFP is scaling up its support to reach 2.7 million beneficiaries in the Somali Region with emergency food assistance and cash-based transfers. WFP supports over 30,000 women and chil

The Ugandan government has launched distribution of emergency food relief to vulnerable households in the Karamoja sub-region after at least 19 people died from hunger across the region.

APA gathered on Monday that the relief operation comes days after local leaders warned that prolonged drought had pushed many families in the sub-region into severe food insecurity.

Launching the emergency intervention, the Prime Minister, Robinah Nabbanja, said that under the programme, the government would distribute 9 million kilogrammes of food over the next two months to vulnerable households across the nine districts of Karamoja.

Nabbanja said that the food would be delivered directly to parishes rather than sub-counties to reduce transport challenges and ensure it would be reaching the beneficiaries more quickly.

Each household will receive 20 kilogrammes of maize flour (posho) and 10 kilogrammes of beans, she said.

The Prime Minister directed district leaders to personally oversee the distribution exercise to ensure that the food reaches the intended beneficiaries.

“All leaders in the districts of Karamoja must take up this responsibility and ensure the food reaches the very vulnerable,” she said.

The intervention follows mounting concern over the humanitarian situation in Karamoja, where prolonged drought has devastated crop production and left thousands of households struggling to find food.

As of last weekend, local authorities had reported 19 hunger-related deaths, with children and older persons among the worst affected.

In Moroto District, Vice Chairperson Stephane Adupa Namer, welcomed the government’s intervention but warned that the planned food ration may only provide short-term relief because of the large family sizes common in Karamoja.

“The planned quantity cannot last a week because of the large size of households in Karamoja. Some men have four or more wives and many dependants. In such cases, the food may last only three days,” she said.

Her concerns are echoed by many residents.

In Nawanatau Village, 75-year-old Lomongin Lomer, who cares for a household of 20 people, said the government’s ration would be exhausted within days.

MG/gik/APA

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