Highlights
Rural communities of Cunene and Huila have food stocks less than 3 months.
400,000 people are in need of food and in-kind assistance;
Water availability is diminishing rapidly, especially in the 4 municipalities of Cunene province and Gambos municipality.
In Huila, it is estimated that less than 20% of communities have access to safe water and adequate sanitation facilities.
Situation Overview
Southern Angola has been affected by recurrent droughts since 2013. In late 2015, 1.4m people in 7 provinces were affected by El Niño. About 78% live in three provinces of southern Angola, namely Cunene, Huila and Namibe.
Agricultural and livestock losses were estimated to be about $242.5m in 2015 and 360.000 head of livestock have died during this period. This year, the National Institute of Cereals in the Ministry of Agriculture estimates a national production deficit of In May-June 2016, FAO had assessed that 1 million people are still affected; and 400,000 are in need of food and in-kind assistance in the coming months.
To date, more than 8,000 people of a district of Cunene have requested for water and food aid, representing 14% of the district population. The Civil Protection department is updating the number of people in need.
Lack of food is starting to be visible in all municipalities of Cunene, where grain stocks are almost empty and people are selling livestock to get staple food. At the same time, communities on the boarder to Namibia, are selling their crops, to get advantage of the favourable rate exchange, diminishing their chance of saving foods for the next crucial months and ending seed stocks. In some communities, repatriated migrants represent the most vulnerable people, as they have no assets. Quick worsening of water availability and quality makes women and children walk greater distances to get cleaner water, and school drop-outs are increasing. People are digging very deep wells to try to find water. Women are reported to be experiencing hygiene problems due to water scarcity.
Community mobilizers have been trained to screen children and report malnutrition cases to health centres; and the performance indicators of admissions to out-patient treatment (OPT) are improving; however, cure rates remain about 70%, defaulters of 59 % and death rates of 0%. The scenario is different for the in-patient treatment, where cure rates are above 75%, defaulter rates below 15% and, on the other hand, the death rates are still above 10%.
The Yellow Fever outbreak response campaign is now ongoing in Lubango and Namacunde municipalities in Huila and Cunene provinces respectively. A total of 6 vaccination campaigns have been conducted in Huila and Cunene provinces, reaching 900,662 people, since late May up to date.