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CAR

WFP Central African Republic Country Brief, March 2018

Attachments

In Numbers

2m people affected by food insecurity

687,398 m internally displaced

US$ 50.5 m six months (May-October 2018) net funding requirements, representing 64% of total

291,210 people assisted in March 2018*

Operational Updates

  • The humanitarian situation remains dramatic with over half of the population without access to food and basic services. As of end of February 2018, over 680,000 are still internally displaced across the country while over 568,000 people have sought refuge in neighbouring countries.

  • Limited access to agricultural fields linked with increased insecurity and population displacements continues to severely disrupt food production, resulting in high needs for food assistance. Against this backdrop of a complex humanitarian crisis, it remains essential to continue providing emergency food assistance to conflict-induced populations and to people affected by food insecurity and acute undernutrition.

  • Despite serious funding shortages, WFP is currently scaling up to respond to the additional humanitarian needs and displacements caused by the multiplication of hotbeds across the country.
    This entails an increase from 241,000 people to 614,000 for general food distributions, and from 25,000 to 53,252 children aged 6-23 months for the prevention of malnutrition. A total of USD 147 million is now required for 2018, representing an increase of USD 50 million from the needs previously identified in the 2018–2020 interim Country Strategic Plan.

  • WFP is starting the year 2018 with rations reduced at 40-50 percent (75 percent of the rations for 10-15 days), trying to reach every displaced person with the scant resources available and despite considerable logistical challenges. Without urgent funding, rations will be reduced further and activities that are not life-saving will be suspended.

  • The results of the national food security assessment (ENSA) conducted in OctoberNovember 2017 by ICASEES (Ministry of Statistics) and co-led by WFP confirmed that one household out of two continues to be food insecure at the national level. An estimated 2 million people are food insecure, of which 0.5 million are severely food insecure at the national level.