Highlights

Angola The nutritional situation in Angola has improved, in the short term at least, following the recent harvest. However, the civil war continues and the national food situation remains extremely precarious: Angola is dependent on food imports for at least 60% of its requirements. UNITA-controlled areas remain inaccessible to humanitarian organisations and others.

Great Lakes. The dismantling of the camps in Burundi is progressing, but over 10% of the population remains displaced. The humanitarian crisis in the DRC remains severe. Access to large numbers of war-affected people is limited. It is estimated that some 1.7 million excess deaths have occurred in eastern DRC since the outbreak of the current round of hostilities. Most of the displaced people in the Republic of Congo have returned to their places of origin; hence their situation is improving. Due to funding shortages, WFP has had to reduce the ration of refugees living in the United Republic of Tanzania by 40%. This will probably lead to increases in the prevalence of malnutrition in vulnerable groups. A severe drought is affecting the region.

Eritrea and Ethiopia. The June ceasefire between Eritrea and Ethiopia has held. However, an estimated one million Eritreans have been displaced by the conflict. Their food security outlook is very poor as many areas have been mined. The effects of the drought combined with chronic food insecurity in Ethiopia have resulted in a period of unusually severe food insecurity, social disruption and increased risk of disease. The extremely high rates of malnutrition and catastrophic mortality rates constitute a serious famine.

Liberia and Sierra Leone Region. The situation in Sierra Leone has deteriorated once again. The humanitarian community cannot access rebel-held areas, approximately half of the country.

Somalia. High rates of malnutrition continue to be recorded in southern Somalia, although recent rains and improved security should ameliorate the situation. An assessment of the IDPs in Mogadishu, the first in five years, did not find especially elevated rates of malnutrition.

Sudan. Hostilities between the Government of Sudan and the rebel movements intensified during the reporting period. Assessments of populations in Upper Nile have reported very high rates of malnutrition, although other areas are not as affected. A measles outbreak has led to catastrophic mortality rates in the displaced camps in the transitional zone. The newly arrived Eritrean refugees have relatively high rates of malnutrition.

Afghanistan. A severe drought is affecting Afghanistan and surrounding countries. The most recent harvest has failed completely and food aid will be required for some 3 to 4 million people until the 2001 harvest. This has interrupted the repatriation of Afghan refugees.

Indonesia and East Timor. The agricultural sector of East Timor's economy has made a rapid recovery. The nutritional situation of the refugees in West Timor has improved. Other areas of Indonesia remain very unstable particularly the Moluccan islands where many people have been displaced.

Other areas. Situations which have not changed significantly since the last report include: Guinea Conakry, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Rwanda, Uganda, the Balkans, Zambia, and Nepal.

Table 1
Risk Factors Affecting Nutrition in Selected Situation

Situations in the table below are classed into five categories (row 1) relating to prevalence and or risk of malnutrition (I-very high risk/prevalence, II-high risk/prevalence, III-moderate risk/prevalence, IV-not at elevated risk/prevalence, V-unknown risk/prevalence, for further explanation see inside of the back page). The prevalence/risk is indirectly affected by both the underlying causes of malnutrition, relating to food, health and care (rows 2 - 4, and also Figure 1 at back of report) and the constraints limiting humanitarian response (rows 5-8). These categories are summations of the causes of malnutrition and the humanitarian response, but should not be used in isolation to prescribe the necessary response.

Factor	IDPs in Kuito, Angola	War-Affected in East DRC	Refugees in Tanzania	IDPs in Eritrea	IDPs in Governement Areas, Sierra Leone	IDPs in Mogadishu, Somalia	IDPs in Transitional Zone, Sudan	Refugees in Nepal
1. Nutritional risk category	III	I	II	II	II	III	I	IV
2. Public Health Environment(water, shelter, overcrowding, access to health services)	X	X		?X	X	O	X
3. Social A Care Environment(Social organisations and networks, Women's role, status and rights)	?X	X		?X	X	X	X
4. Food Security	O	X	X	?O	O	O	O
5. Accessibility to population	O	X			O	O	O
6. General resources
- food (gen stocks) - non-food	X ?X	?X ?X	X X	?X ?X	?O ?O	O ?O	O X
7. Personnel*		X		?	X	O	?
8. Information		O		O	O	X

Adequate O Mixed X Problem
? Don't know, but probably adequate ?X Don't know, but probably inadequate

* This refers to both adequate presence and training of NGOs and local staff where security allows