Drought in Southern Africa - Central Emergency Response Fund Support in 2019-2020 (as of 21 April 2020)

From late 2018 until March 2020, several countries in Southern Africa were affected by severe drought due to below average or erratic rainfalls and extreme temperatures.

Resulting reductions in the crop and livestock production led to food insecurity, and exacerbated health vulnerabilities, malnutrition, and protection issues.

More than 18 million people were affected in Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Lesotho declared a new drought emergency in October 2019, while national drought emergencies in Mozambique and Namibia were extended to March 2020.

In response, between January 2019 and March 2020, CERF allocated some US$69.3 million through CERF’s Rapid Response window targeting a total of more than 3.7 million people in the seven countries.* Funds enabled partners to provide life-saving assistance covering urgent water, sanitation, food, agriculture, health, nutrition, protection and education needs.