Nairobi, Kenya – 14 June 2023 – The Member States of the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) continued to grapple with a severe food crisis in 2022, with over 55 million people facing acute hunger and requiring urgent food, nutrition, and livelihood assistance – an increase of over 13 million from 2021 – according to the latest IGAD Regional Focus of the Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC) 2023.
The Regional Focus on IGAD Member States is a by-product of the annual GRFC produced by the Food Security Information Network (FSIN) in support of the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC). The fifth edition of the report was officially released today by IGAD in Nairobi, unveiling the alarming escalation of acute food insecurity in the region over the years.
Key findings
In 2022, an alarming 55.45 million people across seven out of the eight IGAD member states needed urgent food assistance (Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda, while no data was available for Eritrea), marking the highest number of acutely food-insecure people in the region over the past five years.
The report highlights the devastating reality faced by 301,000 people who experienced Catastrophe (IPC Phase 5) in 2022, with Somalia and South Sudan accounting for 214,000 people and 87,000 people respectively.
The population facing acute food insecurity in the IGAD Member States has rapidly increased since 2020, by over 10 million additional people each year.
The worsening situation is attributed to the compounding effects of multiple shocks, including an unprecedented three-year drought in the Horn of Africa, record-breaking flooding in South Sudan, protracted conflicts, and macroeconomic challenges driven by the ongoing impacts of COVID-19 and exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.
