South Sudan 3.9m citizens face severe hunger– UN

NaijaAgroNet:

Three United Nations agencies haveraised alarm thatestimated3.9 million South Sudanese now face severe hunger, NaijaAgroNetreports.

These agencies include Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP).

This was revealed in a new Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis made available to NaijaAgroNet, which although noted that the number of food insecure households has decreased - as expected - during the harvest season, it is almost 80 per cent higher than in the same period last year, as even people living in states not directly affected by conflict with its long-term effects, erratic rainfall, depleted livelihood options, high food prices, fuel costs and inflation, equally experience the downturn in a generally degraded economic environment.

They called on the parties to the conflict to grant urgent and unrestricted access to Unity State, where a newly released Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) analysis shows that at least 30 000 people are living in extreme conditions and are facing starvation and death.  

Since the war in South Sudan began nearly two years ago, NaijaAgroNet learnt,it is the first time that an IPC analysis has found any parts of the population in phase five (catastrophe) on the five-point IPC scale.

 “This is the start of the harvest and we should be seeing a significant improvement in the food security situation across the country, but unfortunately this is not the case in places like southern Unity State, where people are on the edge of a catastrophe that can be prevented,” said WFP Country Director, ,Joyce Luma. “The people of South Sudan need peace, nutritious food and other humanitarian assistance and livelihood support to survive and rebuild their lives," she stated.

NaijaAgroNet gathered that unless unrestricted humanitarian access is urgently granted, the food insecurity could deteriorate to famine in parts of Unity State, where humanitarian assistance has been hampered by the dreadful violence and lack of access in recent months. Some displaced families say they survive on just one meal a day consisting of only fish and water lilies.

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Nigeria loses150,000 children from diarrhoea

 NaijaAgroNet:

The United Nations Children’s Fund has said that Nigeria loses over 150,000 children from diarrhea annually, largely caused by unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene practices, NaijaAgroNet gathered.

This revelation was made in a press release by Doune Porter, Chief of Communication of the agency as the world observes October 15, as Global Handwashing Day.

In a survey which was carried out by UNICEF in six states of Nigeria, it found that an average of 82 per cent of people washed their hands before eating, while only 53 per cent out of the total washed their hands with soap after defecation. Alarmingly, only about 14 per cent of people wash their hands with soap after cleaning a child’s faeces.

Regular handwashing with soap after using toilets, changing children’s nappies and before eating or handling food saves more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention. It can reduce deaths from diarrhea by almost half and deaths from acute respiratory infections by one-quarter, NaijaAgroNet reports.

To mark this year’s Global Handwashing Day in Nigeria, UNICEF, with the Federal Ministry of Water Resources, the National Task Group on Sanitation and other partners plans to reach at least 10 million Nigerians this year through high profile handwashing demonstrations in schools and communities, mass rallies, road shows, airing of jingles on radio and television, and dissemination of handwashing messages on U-Report, Facebook and Twitter.

 NaijaAgroNet  learnt that the eighth Global Handwashing Day comes less than a month after the United Nations adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, including hygiene for the first time in the global agenda. One of the SDG targets is to achieve ‘access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene’ by 2030. 

Global Head of UNICEF’s water, sanitation and hygiene programmes ,Sanjay Wijesekera, said, “Along with drinking water and access to toilets, hygiene – particularly handwashing with soap – is the essential third leg of the stool holding up the Goal on water and sanitation. From birth – when unwashed hands of birth attendants can transmit dangerous pathogens – right through babyhood, school and beyond, handwashing is crucial for a child’s health. It is one of the cheapest, simplest, most effective health interventions we have.”

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