Number of food-insecure people declines slightly in Horn of Africa

Nairobi [Kenya], March 1: The number of food-insecure people in the Horn of Africa declined by 500,000 to 66.9 million at the end of January, according to a joint report released on Friday by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).
This is a fall from 67.4 million at the end of December 2024, the report said, with the decline attributed to "relative improvement due to the season performance."
Of the 66.9 million people facing food insecurity, 38 million are in the IGAD member states. The rest are in the other countries that make up the Horn of Africa, including the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
"Conflict remains the dominant driver of East Africa's food crisis, with about 38.5 million people across the IGAD region facing high levels of acute food insecurity," the report said.
It added that conflict has caused severe destruction of infrastructure and main sources of food and income, aggravating the already dire food security conditions.
The Horn of Africa region is home to over 29 million displaced individuals as a result of both conflict and climate-related risks, mainly in Sudan and the DRC, according to the report, which emphasized the need for interventions to prevent and treat malnutrition and disease.
Source: Xinhua News Agency