UN warnings: Half of Iraq's population is at risk of food insecurity

UN warnings: Half of Iraq's population is at risk of food insecurity

BAGHDAD - The World Food Program (WFP) and the Iraqi government warned on Monday that more than half the Iraqi population is at risk of food insecurity and unable to provide food.
The report said that more than half of Iraq's families are at risk of food insecurity and can no longer absorb other shocks such as conflict or rising food prices.
"A comprehensive analysis of food security and vulnerability should guide the work of government, policy makers and humanitarian workers across the country to improve food security and nutrition for every Iraqi so that no one is left behind," said Sally Heidock, WFP Representative and Country Director for Iraq. .
The study, conducted prior to the recent attack in Mosul last October and not including the food security situation among people fleeing conflict zones, found that 2.5 percent of Iraqis were already suffering from food insecurity - a level of need that required support. About 75 percent of children under the age of 15 are working to help their families provide food instead of receiving education, she said.
The data was collected in cooperation with the Iraqi government and concluded by the end of 2016. The survey included more than 20,000 Iraqi families in urban and rural areas, including internally displaced persons who still live in their homes.
The analysis found that 53 per cent of the population and 66 per cent of IDPs were vulnerable to food insecurity. The prevalence of food insecurity has increased among IDPs compared with the rest of their households. The highest concentration of food-insecure households was found in the southern part of the country, particularly in northern Muthanna province and parts of the western province of Salahuddin.
The World Food Program and the Ministry of Planning called for accelerated nutrition awareness, access to education, especially for girls, social safety nets and livelihoods in rural areas.
WFP and the Government of Iraq intend to use these recommendations to move towards the second goal of sustainable development, namely the total elimination of hunger. These recommendations will serve as the basis for strategic development plans for five to ten years.
WFP has been working in Iraq since 1968 to provide emergency food assistance during crises, as well as to invest in development activities such as school meals, nutritional support for infants, pregnant and lactating women, planting trees and assisting the Government in building technical capacity and reforming the public distribution system.
Since June 2014, more than three million Iraqis have been displaced by the conflict. In coordination with the Government of Iraq, WFP provides monthly food assistance to 1.5 million of the most needy Iraqi IDPs in all 18 governorates through the monthly cash assistance and family rations project.
WFP urgently needs $ 113 million to provide full monthly rations and cash assistance to cover the needs of 1.5 million vulnerable Iraqis by the end of September 2017.
The aim of this national survey on fragile categories in the country is to uncover important aspects of the reality of families in different governorates, highlight vulnerable groups and provide an objective assessment of the causes and factors of household food insecurity, especially because they are living in very difficult conditions due to attacks and economic situation in the country. The low oil prices also include important data and indicators on widows, divorced women, displaced persons and children.
Officials in the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, headed by Minister Salman Jumaili, said during a press conference in Baghdad on Monday that the survey was carried out to study and measure the state of food security and the social and economic situation in Iraq after the security events that accompanied the occupation of some areas in mid-2014 and the associated bad economic conditions resulted from The decline in international oil prices in addition to evaluating the distribution system of food ration and the effectiveness of the application of this system in light of the economic crisis and security.
For her part, the representative of the World Food Program, "Sally Haydock," expressed her hope that the Government of Iraq support the results of this analysis and achieve the objectives of the sustainable development platform. Finished

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