Food, water shortages escalate in Djibouti(Medeshi) August 6, 2008
At least 55,000 people are in urgent need of food assistance in Djibouti City only.
Recurrent droughts, in addition to rising food and kerosene prices, have exacerbated food insecurity in the Horn of Africa country of Djibouti, according to a senior UN official.
“The people have been struggling since 2003 because of drought, which has reduced pasture and increased population migration,” Marcus Prior, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman for East and Central Africa, told IRIN on 31 July.
“The drought has had a heavy toll on the livestock, with 40 to 70 percent dying in various parts of the country,” Prior said.
The country has a high population of nomadic pastoralists. Food insecurity had, however, forced the nomadic people to cut the number of meals they ate per day and reduced the quality of the food, the spokesman added.
Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in the country averaged 17 percent, rising to 25 in the northwest. A rate of 15 percent is regarded as the threshold for emergency.
“The people have been struggling since 2003 because of drought, which has reduced pasture and increased population migration,” Marcus Prior, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman for East and Central Africa, told IRIN on 31 July.
“The drought has had a heavy toll on the livestock, with 40 to 70 percent dying in various parts of the country,” Prior said.
The country has a high population of nomadic pastoralists. Food insecurity had, however, forced the nomadic people to cut the number of meals they ate per day and reduced the quality of the food, the spokesman added.
Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) in the country averaged 17 percent, rising to 25 in the northwest. A rate of 15 percent is regarded as the threshold for emergency.
