The 2023/2024 El Niño event has caused severe drought across Southern Africa, affecting millions with food insecurity and health crises. Critical regions include Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique, with urgent humanitarian needs identified for 14-15 million people during the upcoming lean season. Compounding factors such as a cholera epidemic and systemic vulnerabilities threaten health and food security.
The 2023/2024 El Niño event has inflicted unprecedented drought conditions across Southern Africa, marked by a delayed onset of rains, prolonged dry spells, and exceptionally high temperatures. This El Niño event is noted as the most severe in the last 40 years, exacerbating vulnerabilities in communities already struggling with failed agricultural yields and adverse microeconomic conditions. The repercussions have been dire, leading to significant drought, acute food insecurity, inadequate access to clean water, health crises, and the distressing loss of livestock. Notably, maize production has plummeted, resulting in yields substantially below the five-year averages, as reported by national governments and the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET). As communities exhaust their limited food reserves, they face several months until the next harvest opportunity in April 2025. Currently, around 23 million individuals are experiencing severe food insecurity, particularly in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. FEWS NET forecasts that between 14.0 and 14.9 million people will require urgent humanitarian support during the lean season from October to December 2024. Six nations, specifically Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, have declared national drought disasters, with Angola and Mozambique also grappling with severe conditions affecting approximately 1.8 million and 3.3 million individuals, respectively. In 2024, the situation for children is alarming, with over two million estimated to be acutely malnourished, including over half a million suffering from severe wasting. The extreme climatic disturbances have forced thousands to leave their homes and have led to food and water shortages, severely impacting agricultural production. Compounding these challenges, the region continues to navigate a cholera epidemic, which, though it appears to have stabilized somewhat, continues to threaten hygiene and sanitation efforts—especially in Malawi and Mozambique, where the risk of further outbreaks looms. The compounded effects of drought, cholera outbreaks, armed conflicts, and climate change have severely disrupted health systems, hindering access to critical sexual and reproductive health services. Furthermore, the challenges posed by drought may heighten the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission, exacerbate mental health crises, and increase incidents of gender-based violence. In total, over one million people have been internally displaced due to disasters and climate change, predominantly from Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The multifaceted crises necessitate robust preparedness and response strategies in order to alleviate the heavy toll on affected communities.
The article discusses the critical public health crisis stemming from the 2023/2024 El Niño event, which has brought unprecedented drought conditions to Southern Africa. It outlines the vast implications for food security and health, particularly in countries already coping with multiple challenges including climate change. The emphasis on the number of individuals affected and the urgent need for humanitarian assistance highlights the significant scope of the issue at hand.
The Southern Africa region faces a catastrophic crisis due to the ongoing drought induced by the 2023/2024 El Niño event, with millions struggling with food insecurity, health risks, and displacement. The intertwined challenges of drought, disease outbreaks, and existing vulnerabilities necessitate urgent humanitarian action and resilience-building measures to mitigate the devastating impacts on communities throughout the region.
Original Source: reliefweb.int
