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WFP Emergency Report No. 43 of 2006

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This week's report covers the following sectors: Agriculture, Coordination and Support Services, Education, Food, Health, Infrastructure and Rehabilitation, Refugees and IDPs, Security, Shelter and Non-food Items, Water & Sanitation

(A) Highlights

(B) Middle East,Central Asia and Eastern Europe: (1) Lebanon

(C) East & Central Africa: (1) Burundi (2) Congo (DR) (3) Ethiopia (4) Kenya (5) Somalia (6) Tanzania (7) Uganda

(D) West Africa: (1) Cote d'Ivoire (2) Liberia

(E) Southern Africa: (1) Angola (2) Lesotho (3) Madagascar (4) Malawi (5) Mozambique (6) Swaziland (7) Zimbabwe

(F) Asia: (1) Korea (DPR) (2) Philippines

(G) Latin America and Caribbean: (1) Ecuador (2) Guatemala (3) Honduras

(H) Stand-Alone Countries: (1) Sudan

(A) Highlights

(a) This week marks the end of the WFP emergency report in its current format. Henceforth WFP will provide updates and analytical information on selected operations through the WFP Monthly Operational Priorities that will be posted on WFP's website (www.wfp.org/newsroom/emergency report) starting in November. Subscribers to the emergency report who wish to receive an e-mail version of the monthly Operational Priorities should send an e-mail to the Operational Reporting Group at ODMR@WFP.org.

(b) During the reporting period (15-21 October), WFP and cooperating partners provided 2,387 tons of food to 210,910 beneficiaries in various locations in West Darfur.

(c) Preliminary findings for the Darfur Emergency Food Security and Nutrition Assessment (EFSNA) are in: The EFSNA mission in Darfur was conducted by WFP, UNICEF and FAO to assess the food security and nutrition status of IDPs and vulnerable residents and identify interventions for 2007. Preliminary findings for EFSNA revealed malnutrition levels in Darfur have stabilized in 2006 and food insecurity has improved slightly. However, 70 percent of the conflict-affected population is considered food insecure.

(d) Kenya has launched a UN joint flash appeal to provide six months of assistance for an influx of some 80,000 new Somali refugees into Kenya by the end of the year.

(e) In DR Congo, at least 33,800 displaced persons in Gethy (Ituri district) will not be assisted in November due to insufficient food stocks in the pipeline. (f) While hungry people elsewhere on the continent attract world attention, southern Africa's food problems are equally tragic. A massive funding shortfall is forcing food aid cuts to some 4.3 million people across southern Africa who remain chronically vulnerable despite this year's good harvests across the region. WFP has a US$ 60 million funding shortfall, which comes just as the annual "lean season" approaches, when people have to wait until next March or April for the next harvest.

(g) Due to a lack of donor support, WFP across the southern Africa region begun to reduce the level of food assistance since September. After the good harvests, WFP scaled down general food assistance to concentrate on people with the most chronic needs - such as those living with HIV/AIDS, mother and child nutrition centres, and school-feeding projects. Despite some abundant rains this year, millions of people were too poor to buy seeds and fertilisers to grow food or buy grains once they were harvested. In Zimbabwe alone, the May 2006 vulnerability assessment identified 1.4 million people as being in critical need of food assistance. Yet in October, WFP was forced to scale down operations in the country to roughly half of the 900,000 people. Further reductions may have to be imposed unless donor contributions are received. Zimbabwe is one of seven countries under a regional WFP operation, which began in January 2005 and is scheduled to continue through December 2007. The other countries under the operation are Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zambia. They are facing similar shortfalls.

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