Malawi hunger: 6.7 million people got humanitarian support

A report by United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has disclosed that 6.7 million Malawians received humanitarian support over the past nine months.

The humanitarian supports was provided in line with the 2016 Food Insecurity Response Plan which ended on March 31 this year.

The program followed a call by President Peter Mutharika to the international community to help the hunger stricken citizens due to persistent dry spells that affected crop production in the 2015/2016 farming season.

Over the past nine months, Malawians in 24 of the 28 districts across the country received humanitarian support.

According to UNICEF Malawi humanitarian situation report released in April, by the end of April this year the organisation had received only 23 per cent of its funding requirements for the humanitarian assistance in line with the 2016 Food Insecurity Response Plan.

UNICEF has also disclosed that during the period, 18,511 Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children were admitted in Outpatient Therapeutic Program (OTP) and Nutrition Rehabilitation Units (NRU). This, according to UNICEF, was a slight drop from the number of children admitted during the same period last year.

Among the factors that led to the drop include the food insecurity response which improved food security outcomes at the household level as described by various food security actors in the country and reduced morbidity.

Cases of cholera were also registered during the nine months period with one associated death out of the 45 cases reported.

Meanwhile, an evaluation of the response is being planned with leadership from the Department of the Disaster Management Affairs. The evaluation will seek to identify challenges, best practices and lessons learned from the different approaches by various partners during the humanitarian response.