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UN agencies warn of "extreme" level of food insecurity in northeast Nigeria

Xinhua, November 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The World Food Programme (WFP) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) are warning of "extreme" level of food insecurity in northeastern Nigeria, which has been affected by Boko Haram violence, Farhan Haq, the deputy UN spokesman, said here Friday.

In Nigeria, the WFP and UNICEF "are rolling out a rapid response mechanism to deliver food, health and nutrition services in difficult-to-reach areas in Borno and Yobe States -- the two states worst affected by hunger and malnutrition in northeastern Nigeria," Haq said at a daily news briefing here.

"This is part of WFP's larger response plan -- to gradually scale up to reach 1.8 million people with urgent food and nutrition support throughout 2017," he said.

"Food insecurity has reached an extreme level in parts of northeastern Nigeria," where 4.6 million people are going hungry, he noted. "Without urgent support, hunger will only deepen."

Since August, the number of people needing urgent food assistance has increased from about 1 million to 1.8 million in Borno and Yobe states.

Boko Haram violence has led to one of the most acute -- and sorely neglected -- humanitarian crises in the world. As more areas of northeastern Nigeria become accessible, the scale of the human tragedy is becoming apparent.

Some 2.1 million people are displaced in northeastern Nigeria. The number of people in need of food assistance in the region has risen to 4.5 million, nearly twice as many as in March. A worsening economy could see this figure rise by a further million as early as September.

There are real concerns that in the worst affected and least accessible areas of Borno and Yobe states, severe forms of hunger, and likely famine-like conditions, may be occurring.

The vast majority of people with moderate and severe food insecurity are in Borno State -- at more than 3 million, the WFP said.

Unless life-saving assistance is provided fast, hunger will only deepen. An estimated 244,000 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition, including up to 49,000 children who are at risk of dying if not reached with treatment. Endit