In Angola, there has not been enough rain to end months of severe drought that has left 2.3 million people struggling to get the food they need.
According to UNICEF, recent rainfall in Angola has been erratic and below what is expected.
The severe drought in Angola has plunged 2.3 million people into a food security crisis with thousands of children being treated for malnutrition, a report compiled by the United Nations children’s fund UNICEF said.
Angola’s President Joao Lourenco declared a state of emergency in January and acknowledges that the people need help.
“We are especially concerned about the next four to five months until October, which is when the rains are expected to begin”, Lourenco said. We believe until then, the situation we saw in Namib and Cunene will only get worse. Therefore the emergency program should be expanded so that we no longer lose cattle and human lives in this region”.
UNICEF said the official government response has been hampered by a lack of funding. The organisation’s own action plan for Angola has secured only 28 percent of its intended funding, it said.
Across the oil-producing country, which has been plunged into an economic crisis since the price of oil fell in 2014, nearly 500,000 children are at risk of being without sufficient food.
