Situation Report: Greater Horn of Africa Food Insecurity and Health - Grade 3 Emergency — 1 July 2023 - 31 August 2023

Overview

• Countries in the Greater Horn of Africa (GHoA) continue to face extreme weather events including drought and flooding; the impacts of these events are likely to be exacerbated by the onset of El Niño.
• Over 61 million people in IPC3+ are in a state of crisis and above characterized by elevated levels of acute food insecurity; 12.4 million people are in IPC phase 4 and over 83 thousand in IPC phase 5 (South Sudan and Somalia).
• In Sudan, due to the ongoing crisis, it is estimated that 20.3 million people (42% of country’s population) are experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity with
• 6.3 million of them in emergency conditions by September 2023. This represents a greater than 100% increase in the population experiencing emergency conditions.
• Over 14.9 million people have been displaced due to conflict, drought, and flooding. Of these people, 10.1 million are internally displaced, while 4.5 million are refugees and asylum seekers (as of 31 August 2023). Three million have been displaced due to drought alone in the Horn of Africa.
• Admission trends for severe acute malnutrition continue to increase in many GHoA countries. Notably, between January and August of this year, there were over 146,000 more admissions (53% increase) in Somalia and over 31,000 more admissions (48% increase) in Kenya, 17,648 more admissions (9.3%) in South Sudan and 466 more admissions (14% increase) in Djibouti, compared to the same time period in 2022.
  
• The region is battling with multiple outbreaks of diseases including cholera in four countries, measles and malaria in all the seven countries and dengue fever in Ethiopia and Djibouti, with most cases reported from drought-affected areas. A new cholera outbreak affecting two districts in Uganda was reported in July 2023.
• The onset of El-Niño was confirmed by World Meteorological Organization in July 2023 and all the countries in the region are expected to face its health impact, either through below or above average rains in the last quarter of 2023.
• WHO continues to provide the necessary support on leadership and coordination, surveillance and health information, outbreak prevention and control, essential nutrition actions and health services to all 7 countries in the GHoA region (Djibouti, Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda).