One in three people in Swaziland in urgent need of food, Deputy PM reports

One in three people in Swaziland (eSwatini) are in immediate need of food, the kingdom’s Deputy Prime Minister has revealed.

Themba Masuku said 366,260 people had been identified by the eSwatini Vulnerability Assessment and Analysis. The population of Swaziland is about 1.1 million people.

He said they needed food assistance between now and March 2021.

Swaziland has been in a hunger crisis for many years and things are not getting better. Separately, the World Food Programme (WFP) reported it had assisted 108,205 people in November 2020. This was about the same number it helped in the previous month.

In one of its activities WFP provides social safety nets for 55,000 orphans and vulnerable children under five years of age at 1,700 Neighbourhood Care Points (NCPs) in the kingdom. They access food and basic social services. In its monthly report WFP said the the number of children accessing food at NCPs was higher than the number of children registered by more than half.

Hunger is sweeping across Swaziland. The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) in a report published in August 2020 said about 366,000 people faced ‘high acute food insecurity’ in the coming months.

 

See also

No let up on hunger in Swaziland – World Food Programme

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/12/no-let-up-on-hunger-in-swaziland-world.html