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Angola

Angola: Drought - Office of the Resident Coordinator Situation Report no.4 (as of 13 July 2016)

Attachments

Highlights

  • Food insecurity is predicted to worsen from August onward; 400,000 people will be in need of food and non-food assistance.

  • Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) and global acute malnutrition (GAM) rates are still critical and expected to worsen in the coming months.

  • Transhumance has started two months early. Lack of vaccinations has led to 140,000 livestock deaths since January 2016.

  • Water availability is diminishing rapidly. Less than 20% of communities have access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities.

Situation Overview

Southern Angola has been affected by recurrent cycles of droughts and floods since 2008. In 2015, 1.4m people in 7 provinces were affected by El Niño, of which about 78% resided in three provinces of southern Angola, namely Cunene (56% of the total people affected), Huila and Namibe. Agricultural and livestock losses were estimated to be about $242.5m in 2015 and 500,000 heads of livestock have died in 2015 and 2016. This year, the National Institute of Cereals in the Ministry of Agriculture estimates a production deficit of 40%.

According to the Provincial Directorates of Agriculture, food insecurity is predicted to worsen from August onward in Cunene and Huila provinces, possibly to be exacerbated by forecasted La Niña that could bring flooding. The market is experiencing severe price increases and fluctuations as a result of the increasing food scarcity. According to FAO, from May to June 2016 an estimated 1 million people remain affected and 400,000 will need food and non-food assistance in the coming months.

Short and irregular rains did not sufficiently recharge the underground water table resulting in water shortages for both household and livestock uses. The precarious situation is manifesting itself in the early start of the transhumance migrations which have started in early June, about two months in advance of its normal cycle.

Between the start of the outbreak in late December 2015 and 13 July 2016, a total of 3,641 suspected yellow fever cases have been recorded, of which 872 have been confirmed. The total number of reported deaths stands at 359, of which 117 were among the confirmed cases. Suspected cases have been reported in all 18 provinces and confirmed cases in 16 of 18 provinces and in 80 of 125 reporting districts. Recently a