Although food security has started to improve in areas where fighting has eased, famine has set in in areas affected by conflict, cut off from aid or under siege, according to the latest UN-backed IPC food security analysis.

Famine conditions confirmed in El Fasher and Kadugli in Darfurwhere “people endured months without reliable access to food or medical care,” the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.FAO), the World Food Program (PAM) and the child rights agency UNICEF said in a joint outing.

Call for ceasefire

UN chief António Guterres called on Tuesday for an immediate ceasefire in Sudan, as disturbing images of apparent massacres in El Fasher and elsewhere continued to circulate online.

In a tweetMr. Guterres called on the Sudanese armed forces and rebel rapid support paramilitary forces “to come to the negotiating table to end this nightmare of violence.”

Heavy fighting broke out in Sudan in April 2023 between rival armies, causing a massive humanitarian catastrophe.

Last week saw the fall of El Fasher’s government after more than 500 days of siege by rebels.

Hundreds of civilians – including aid workers – are believed to have been killed, with many more trapped behind barricades.

Millions of people are still hungry

The IPC analysis confirmed that around 21.2 million people in Sudan – 45 percent of the population – face high levels of acute food insecurity, representing a slight improvement.

Furthermore, an estimated 3.4 million people no longer face critical levels of hunger.

The improvements follow a gradual stabilization since May in three states – Khartoum, Al Jazirah and Sennar – where the conflict has subsided and families are returning, among other events.

“But these gains are limited,” the UN agencies said. “The wider crisis has destroyed the economy and vital services, and much of the infrastructure that people depend on has been damaged or destroyed. »

“Flimsy improvements”

Favorable growing conditions are also expected after the harvest and over the next year, with famine levels improving to 19.3 million through January.

However, they warned that “these fragile improvements are very localized» because many families returning to Khartoum and Al Jazirah have lost everything and will struggle to enjoy the harvests.

At the same time, active conflict persists in the western regions, including North and South Darfur as well as West and South Kordofan.

At the same time, hunger is expected to worsen from February as food stocks run out and fighting continues.

Famine in besieged areas

The IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) found that famine conditions prevail in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, and Kadugli in South Kordofan, which have been largely isolated due to the conflict.

UN agencies noted that conditions in Dilling, South Kordofan, “are likely similar to those in Kadugli, but cannot be classified due to lack of reliable data – due to restricted humanitarian access and ongoing hostilities.”

In the western Nuba Mountains, the situation has improved slightly, but famine remains high unless humanitarian access improves.

The FRC forecasts a risk of famine in 20 additional areas in Greater Darfur and Greater Kordofan, including rural localities, IDP camps and several new sites in East Darfur and South Kordofan.

Furthermore, global acute malnutrition (GAM) rates are alarming, ranging from 38 to 75 percent in El Fasher and reaching almost 30 percent in Kadugli.

This is happening as outbreaks of cholera, malaria and measles continue to surge in areas where health, water and sanitation systems have collapsed.

The development comes 11 months after the country’s devastating civil war ended with the overthrow of the Assad regime by opposition forces loyal to new President Ahmad Al-Sharaa.

Today, as Syrians are returning home in increasing numbersthe broken country faces chronic shortages of foreign investment, medicine, electricity and equipment.

According to the WHOonly 58 percent of hospitals and 23 percent of primary health care centers are fully functional today.

“Services on the ground remain very fragile…health needs continue to increase. » warned the representative of the United Nations agency in Syria, Dr. Christina Bethke.

She said that since mid-year, more than 400 health facilities have been affected by funding reductions and 366 have suspended or reduced their services.

In total, 7.4 million people have seen their access to medicines and treatments reduced, according to the WHO.

In just two months, this made it possible to avoid 122,000 trauma consultations and allow 13,700 deliveries without qualified personnel.

“We continue to see shortages of health personnel and the conditions for the return of these qualified health professionals are still not necessarily in place,” Dr. Bethke told reporters in Geneva via video from Damascus.

More than a million return home

The latest UN data indicates that more than 1.16 million Syrians have returned to their country since the fall of the Assad regime.

The lack of available healthcare is a key factor deterring more people from returning home, in addition to the widespread destruction of housing and infrastructure, lack of jobs and the current volatile security situation.

According to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCRmore than seven million Syrians remain internally displaced and more than 4.5 million still live abroad.

“Most people would prefer to come back with their families, so if you’re considering going back to your beloved Syria, you’ll want to know that there’s a school there, that there’s shelter there, that you have electricity and connectivity, that you have water,” explained WHO’s Dr. Bethke.

Looming hotspots

In northeast Syria, the Hassakeh National Hospital could see donor support run out next month.

It is the only comprehensive public hospital that can accommodate more than 300,000 people. If funding fails, key services likely to suffer will be the ambulance and referral system, as well as 24-hour primary care in several camps.

“We also received reports this week from partners that support to al-Kasrah General Hospital in Deir-ez-Zor has been suspended, forcing most departments to halt operations, with only dialysis and physiotherapy continuing – affecting more than 700,000 people,” Dr Bethke added.

To maintain health care in Syria, the UN and its health sector partners need $565.5 million.

Only about 20 percent of this sum has been received. Of the $141.5 million that WHO needs this year for its work and that of its partners, $77 million remained unfunded as of last month.

“Without predictable, multi-year support, the health system could collapse just when recovery is within reach,” insisted Dr. Bethke.

Last month, hundreds of thousands of people returned to northern Gaza – where famine was declared in late August – but their access to food is “severely limited”, said Abeer Etefa, senior spokesperson for the World Food Program (WFP).PAM).

And while many returnees have found their homes in ruins, those displaced in the south “often live in tents and without access to food and services,” she warned.

Speaking from Cairo, Ms Etefa said that three and a half weeks into the fragile ceasefire, the WFP had distributed food parcels to around a million people across the Gaza Strip against a target of 1.6 million, as part of “the vast operation to reduce hunger in Gaza”.

“Supplies are still limited, so each family receives a reduced food ration, which corresponds to one parcel, or enough food for 10 days,” she explained.

To continue expanding our operations to the required level, “We really need more access, more border crossings opening and… more access to key routes inside Gaza”insisted the PAM spokesperson.

Humanitarian crossings still closed

UN Aid Coordination Office OCHA said Monday that no food aid convoys had reached the north via direct crossings since September 12.

“We still only have two operational border crossing points,” emphasized Ms. Etefa, referring to Kerem Shalom in the south of the enclave and Kissufim in central Gaza. “This significantly limits the amount of assistance that WFP and other agencies are able to provide to stabilize markets and meet the needs of the population,” she said, highlighting the fact that the continued closure of northern crossing points into the Gaza Strip means that aid convoys are forced to “follow a slow and difficult route from the south.”

The spokesperson for the UN food aid agency also said that some 700,000 people receive fresh bread daily through 17 WFP-supported bakeries, nine in southern and central Gaza and eight in the north, with the aim of reaching 25.

Speaking from Gaza, WFP communications manager Nour Hammad said that while witnessing “apocalyptic scenes” across the enclave, she also saw in people’s faces “the joy that the guns have fallen silent after all this time and the fear of whether the silence will last or not.”

She said Gaza residents compared the destruction caused by more than two years of war to “the aftermath of an earthquake.”

“This help is important”

“In all the distribution points I have visited in the Gaza Strip in recent days, people tell me one thing: this aid is important,” she said. After months spent “surviving on scraps, rationing food, spreading a meal over several days”, people finally have access to “fresh bread, food parcels, cash transfers, nutrition and support”.

“This is where the path to recovery begins,” she emphasized.

While 200,000 of the most vulnerable people now receive digital cash payments to “supplement food baskets with fresh produce” from local markets, prices there remain prohibitive.

“Food is slowly returning to the shelves, but prices remain out of reach for families, given that they have exhausted their resources to survive two years of war,” Ms. Hammad said. “Today, for example, I buy an apple at the price of a kilo before the war,” she explains.

The fragility of the ceasefire and aid flows are at the center of people’s concerns, Ms. Hammad said, recounting the story of a displaced mother she met in Gaza City. Even though the woman is receiving aid, she warned her children against eating the rations right away because “she cannot believe that tomorrow we will also bring food,” the WFP communicator said.

“Families invite us into their tents… exhausted from the cold of winter and the heat of summer, and they want to show us their reality. And their reality is that people need food. People need shelter, people need warm clothes because winter is coming and they need continued support,” she concluded.

This increased use reflects a major health success story that has enabled millions of young people to avoid unwanted pregnancy and make choices about their future, but UNFPA said that “for far too many people, the basic human right to choose whether or not to have children continues to be compromised.”

“Contraceptives save lives”

According to UNFPA, the unavailability of contraception leads to an increase in unwanted pregnancies and maternal death rates due to unsafe abortions.

The consequences extend far beyond health, contributing to an increase in teenage pregnancies, school dropouts, and an increased risk of gender-based violence.

“Contraceptives save lives,” reiterated Diene Keita, executive director of UNPA.

In addition, they also generate significant economic benefits.

“Every dollar spent to address unmet need for contraception generates almost $27 in economic benefits,” Ms. Keita said.

Here are five common myths about contraception.

1. Contraception is not safe

Modern forms of contraception are among the “most prescribed and best-studied” medications, according to UNFPA.

The health risks associated with an unintended pregnancy are “significantly higher” than any recommended method of contraception.

2. Using contraception can cause abortion

Contraceptives do not cause abortion or miscarriage; they work by preventing fertilization or ovulation – thus preventing pregnancy from occurring in the first place.

3. Contraception harms your fertility

Contraceptives do not cause infertility. Some hormonal methods (such as injectables) may temporarily delay the resumption of ovulation and menstruation, but they do not cause permanent infertility.

4. Natural family planning methods are safer than hormonal methods

Nowadays, alternative methods of contraception are becoming very popular on social media: cycle tracking methods, fertility awareness methods (i.e. daily temperature checks).

These “natural methods” are “significantly less likely to prevent pregnancy,” UNFPA stressed. “The most effective methods of contraception are modern methods. »

5. You shouldn’t use contraception if you’re single or your partner doesn’t want it

Research shows that young people with access to information and services related to sexual and reproductive health do not increase their sexual activity.

Instead, it gives them the information they need to make responsible decisions.

“Every individual has the right to decide whether or not to become pregnant,” UNFPA said.

No one should ever be pressured to have unprotected sex – a form of reproductive coercion that UNFPA says constitutes abuse.

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