Drought hits food access for 26 million in southern Africa, says UN

A severe drought in southern Africa, intensified by the 2023-2024 El Niño, has left 26 million people facing acute food insecurity, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned Wednesday. The crisis is expected to persist until the next harvests in March or April. WFP regional director Eric Perdison highlighted Angola, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe as the hardest-hit nations, urging immediate funding to address the escalating food emergency.