Meanwhile, across all three conflict-affected regions of the north, more than nine million people now need humanitarian food assistance, the highest number so far, since conflict erupted in November 2020, between Government and rebel forces.
According to the Tigray Emergency Food Security Assessment, 83 per cent of people are food insecure.
Families are exhausting all means to feed themselves, with three quarters of the population using extreme coping strategies to survive.
Diets are increasingly impoverished as food items become unavailable and families rely almost exclusively on cereals. At the same time, families are having to limit portion sizes and the number of meals, to make whatever food is available stretch further.
In terms of nutrition, 13 per cent of Tigrayan children under five, and half of all pregnant and breastfeeding women, are malnourished, leading to poor pregnancy outcomes, low-birth weight, stunting and increased maternal death.
Source: https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/01/1110802
