The Southern African Development Community (SADC) on Tuesday said around 44.8 million people in urban and rural areas across 13 member states of Southern Africa are food insecure as a result of drought and flood and the impact of coronavirus, reported Eyewitness News.
According to a report released by SADC, the number of food insecure people, lacking reliable access to sufficient quantity of nutritious food, has increased by almost 10% in 2020, compared to last year.
“Common climate-induced shocks … economic challenges and poverty have been further exacerbated by the devastating impact of COVID-19 on communities,” the report said.
Coronavirus lockdowns and other movement restrictions have caused severe socio-economic impacts due to loss of livelihoods and employment opportunities, and remittances. The COVID 19 impact is particularly evident in the urban poor, who rely heavily on livelihoods from the informal sector and local markets, which were forced to close temporarily as a result of lockdown measures.
The SADC report warned that the projected number of food insecure will rise further in the coming days. It said some 8.4 million children are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition across the region in 2020, of whom 2.3 million will require life-saving treatment. Furthermore, closure of schools since March has hit youngsters who depend on school meals for nutrition, it said.
The SADC report proposed some wide-ranging recommendations to support those Member States suffering from increased food insecurity. It called for urgently assisting food and nutrition insecure populations, ensuring harmonization with national shock-responsive social protection programs. In response to COVID-19, the regional bloc urged for developing and implementing a regional strategy on hygiene and handwashing with soap.
On Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention said 859,237 COVID-19 cases have been recorded in 54 African countries, with fatalities now at 18,160 and 506,534 recoveries.
South Africa is the worst virus-hit among all the SADC member countries, tallying over 450,000 infections and over 7,000 deaths.
