UNITED NATIONS, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- A combination of drought in the west and south of Zambia and floods in the north has increased hunger, with more than 2.3 million people expected to be severely food insecure through March, a UN spokesman said on Wednesday.
Four districts are facing emergency levels of food insecurity, and decreased access to clean water has also increased the risk of communicable disease outbreaks, such as typhoid and cholera, said Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
He said more funding is urgently needed to prevent the situation from deteriorating even further as Zambia approaches the peak of the lean season.
The humanitarian country team was able to mobilize only 38 million U.S. dollars, including 8 million dollars from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund, toward the humanitarian appeal of 90 million dollars, he said.
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported last month that the current lean season, running from October 2019 through March 2020, is the worst since 1981.
