FAMINE REVIEW COMMITTEE:
COMBINED REVIEW OF: (i) THE FAMINE EARLY WARNING
SYSTEM NETWORK (FEWS NET) IPC COMPATIBLE ANALYSIS
FOR IDP CAMPS IN EL FASHER, NORTH DARFUR; AND
(ii) THE IPC SUDAN TECHNICAL WORKING GROUP
ANALYSIS OF ZAMZAM CAMP (NORTH DARFUR), SUDAN
CONCLUSIONS AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
July 2024
...
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Key findings
• After a thorough review of the evidence, the FRC finds it plausible that IPC Phase 5 (Famine) is ongoing
in July 2024 in Zamzam camp near El Fasher town. The FRC concludes that IPC Phase 5 (Famine)
conditions will continue into the August to end of October projection period.
• While uncertainty remains, the FRC finds that the likelihood of famine remains high in Zamzam camp
after October and that many other areas throughout Sudan remain at risk of Famine as long as the
conflict and limited humanitarian access continue.
• The FRC highlights that similar conditions are likely prevailing in other IDP sites in the El Fasher area,
notably in Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps and underlines the urgent requirement to assess the
presence and size of populations in these areas along with their food security, nutrition, and health
conditions as soon as possible.
...
4. CONCLUSIONS FOR THE CURRENT PERIOD (JULY 2024)
On acute malnutrition and mortality, the outcome
data used by the FRC came from the MSF/Epicentre
assessment conducted in January 2024 in Zamzam
camp. Quality checks done on MUAC data revealed
plausible measurements. GAM by MUAC was at 23.1
percent already exceeding the IPC Phase 4/5 threshold,
and by MFAZ at 33.7 percent. The FRC concluded that
it is plausible that the GAM by WHZ was also above 30
percent at this time, even with remittances and social
safety nets.
Similarly, for non-trauma mortality, CDR was already
very close to the Famine threshold in January (1.9
deaths/10,000 people/day. Since that time, there has
been an increase in the risk factors for non-trauma
mortality. With all these factors contributing to worse
situation since January, and especially since April/
May when violence escalated and access routes were
largely blocked leading to a near collapse of the health
care system, the FRC concludes that mortality has
crossed the Famine thresholds.
While no direct quantitative evidence is available
on the food security outcome indicators in Zamzam
camp, the whole body of evidence on the food security
situation, including contributing factors on food
availability, access, utilisation and stability converge
towards a severe situation. Given the ongoing lean
season, and lack of stocks, food availability is extremely
limited during the current period of analysis. Access is
largely impeded due to insecurity for both commercial
and humanitarian actors; no humanitarian food
assistance has been distributed in the Zamzam camp
since April 2024. In Zamzam camp, the markets remain
the main source of food for IDPs, though these are
functioning only intermittently. Even if access to the El
Fasher markets is still possible, the commercial trade
in the whole locality is disrupted compounded by
soaring prices. The labour-to-sorghum terms-of-trade
continue to decline, limiting the purchasing power
of the IDPs. Livelihoods and assets are considered
to be nearly depleted or largely disrupted. Access to
cash via remittances or money transfer system are
not expected to significantly mitigate the situation
considering connectivity disruptions. Asset loss and
growing inability to cope suggest that the high levels
of acute food insecurity are converging towards IPC
Phase 5 (Famine) conditions.
Zamzam camp. For the current period of analysis,
July 2024, considering the nutrition and mortality
thresholds are expected to meet or surpass the
threshold for IPC Phase 5 (Famine) conditions, and
also considering the convergence of the food security
contributing factors. The FRC it plausible that Famine
(IPC Phase 5) is ongoing with reasonable evidence.
Abu Shouk and Al Salam camps. The FRC accepts
the logic of FEWS NET’s inclusion of Abu Shouk and Al
Salam camps in their findings, though due to a lack of
outcome data and some uncertainty about population
status and size, the FRC recommends not to classify
these areas; though highlights the high likelihood of
similar conditions prevailing in other IDP sites in the
El Fasher area.
https://www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/u...ne_Review_Committee_Report_Sudan_July2024.pdf
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World cannot continue to turn blind eye to Sudan as man-made famine is confirmed in Darfur camp.
Format News and Press Release Sources Acción contra el Hambre CAFODConcern14 more Posted 3 Aug 2024 Originally published 2 Aug 2024
...
August 2, 2024, Port Sudan - The recently published report by the Famine Review Committee has confirmed our worst fears: a man-made famine has taken hold of one of Darfur's largest displacement sites: Zamzam camp near Al Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur. Over recent months, conflict spiralled in the state and drove an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people fleeing to Zamzam, bringing the total population of the camp to over half a million. The camp’s residents are now trapped in deprivation, unable to leave, farm or access food. Critically, they have been deprived from the aid they so desperately need.
Over 25 million people across Sudan are now facing severe acute food insecurity, with over 8.5 million people in IPC Phase 4 (Emergency) and 755,000 in IPC Phase 5. The humanitarian community has been warning for months that people, especially children, are dying due to hunger-related causes across Sudan, including in Zamzam. The confirmation of famine conditions in Zamzam camp only scratches the surface of a much broader catastrophe. Across Darfur, Kordofan, Khartoum, Al Jazira, our teams and local responders report stories of children dying of malnutrition, mothers barely surviving on one meal a day, eating boiled leaves and a handful of cereals. In Kalma camp, South Darfur, NGOs reported that 1 in every 4 children under 5 was acutely malnourished with some health facilities in the state reporting that between 4 to 5 children die each day from malnutrition related causes. In Central Darfur, in some areas over 90% of children under 5 suffer from acute malnutrition. The situation in Zamzam is the only one that the IPC could independently verify, but the lack of data hides the true extent of this crisis. If nothing changes, countless other communities across Sudan will starve to death amidst the world’s indifference.
The conduct of the conflict parties is largely responsible for this historical crisis. Over the past 15 months of unabated conflict, blatant violations of international humanitarian law such as the shattering of essential infrastructure, the destruction of means of livelihood, and widespread obstructions of the delivery of humanitarian assistance have led to mass-scale starvation. Across entire areas of Khartoum, Al Jazira, Kordofan and Darfur, communities are receiving only a trickle of assistance due to conflict parties’ refusal to allow aid at the scale and speed that is needed, through the appropriate corridors, and with the necessary safety guarantees. Complex approval processes mean that life saving food and nutrition commodities can take months to reach those most in need as medical supplies have been actively blocked from entering El Fasher by the warring parties.
At the same time, the international community has been unbearably slow to prevent a tragedy we knew was coming for months. The general apathy towards the suffering of the people of Sudan and lack of urgency in the humanitarian response have only exacerbated the situation. Seven months into the year the response has not even received a third of funding required to address the population’s urgent needs and efficient modalities such as cash programming and support to local responders are still not receiving the investments necessary to bring the response to the scale required by the colossal needs
It is our collective responsibility to bring an end to this crisis. We call for the urgent roll out of the recommendations made by the Famine Review Committee, and emphasise;
...
https://reliefweb.int/report/sudan/...e-sudan-man-made-famine-confirmed-darfur-camp
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Famine Review Committee Confirms Famine in Sudan’s Zamzam IDP Camp
Home News & Information Press Releases Famine Review Committee Confirms Famine in Sudan’s Zamzam IDP Camp
For Immediate Release
Office of Press Relations
press@usaid.gov
Thursday, August 1, 2024
Statement by Administrator Samantha Power
Three years ago, I visited Zamzam, the largest camp in Sudan for internally displaced people. Zamzam, which sits on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur, is home for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Sudanese people – some of whom have been displaced there for more than two decades. The people I spoke to in 2021 expressed hope that under the civilian-led transitional government, conflict in Sudan might finally be coming to an end. Several of the residents I spoke with had pooled their money together for the nine-hour bus ride to Khartoum to join the protests that toppled Omar al-Bashir’s dictatorship.
Today, hope has given way to horror, with independent experts from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system, or IPC, confirming that Famine has been ongoing inside the camp for more than a month.
This is entirely a man-made famine. The war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has devastated Sudan’s economy, driven more than 10 million people from their homes, and prevented humanitarian agencies from reaching starving populations. RSF’s ongoing siege of El Fasher has trapped civilians in Zamzam, and both the SAF and RSF – enabled by external patrons – are using starvation as a weapon of war, actively preventing food, including life-saving emergency nutritional supplements, from reaching people in need.
The suffering is not limited to Zamzam alone. Millions across Sudan are on the verge of starvation. More than 90 percent of children screened by humanitarian organizations across Central Darfur – more than four thousand children in five locations – are experiencing some form of acute malnutrition. At one health facility in South Darfur State’s Al Radoum locality, local health workers report that four to five children are dying each day from malnutrition.
The United States continues to demand that the SAF and RSF enable full and unfettered humanitarian access throughout the country to allow brave local and international humanitarian workers to surge assistance and prevent famine conditions from taking hold across wider swaths of the country. The parties to this conflict must return to the negotiating table this month in Switzerland and take immediate steps – including reopening the Adre border crossing from Chad and facilitating cross-line humanitarian access – to alleviate the suffering of the Sudanese people.
SAMANTHA POWER
https://www.usaid.gov/news-informat...mittee-confirms-famine-sudans-zamzam-idp-camp
‘Moderate’ Risk After Lab Containing Diseases Seized by Fighters in Sudan: WHO
