Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - October 21, 2004
The U.N. agency said it needs an immediate $63 million to help people survive what it called the "hunger season" in the first three months of next year in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zambia.
Mike Sackett, the WFP regional director for southern Africa, said in a statement the region can only escape a downward spiral if governments and the international community tackled the problem.
WFP launched its first southern Africa emergency appeal in July 2002. A second emergency appeal followed the next year and ends on Dec. 31. The agency said the two operations, valued at a total of $856 million, averted a humanitarian catastrophe by giving food aid to more than 10 million people at the height of the crisis.
But tens of thousands of families still face severe food shortages and need aid, WFP said, adding that it expects to feed an average of 1.5 million people a month over the three years. In total, it expects to give food aid to 5.5 million people during the course of the operation.
The five countries covered by the appeal account have some of the highest adult HIV/AIDS rates in the world and are struggling to cope with a growing number of orphans, increasing poverty and a rapidly declining life expectancy.
WFP said about a third of the money it appealed for will go to support food relief and about two-thirds will be used to ease the effects of HIV/AIDS and alleviate chronic food shortages.
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