What’s needed to meet ‘famine’ criteria?published at 09:56 British Summer Time
09:56 BST
Image source, Reuters
The IPC – a global initiative by UN agencies, aid groups and governments – does not itself declare whether a famine is happening.
What it does do is provide the analysis that allows governments, organisations and agencies to issue statements or declarations about famine.
What is needed to meet the criteria of famine?The IPC has a formal definition of famine, with three elements:
- At least 20% of households have an extreme lack of food and face starvation or destitution
- More than 30% of children under five suffer acute malnutrition
- Two adults or four children out of 10,000 people die from starvation or malnutrition on a daily basis
Difficulty collecting data in Gaza
Israel restricts aid agencies’ ability to operate in Gaza. Amande Bazerolle, who is in charge of MSF’s emergency response in Gaza, told the AFP news agency that ongoing fighting and aid blockades mean that “currently we are unable to conduct the surveys that would allow us to formally classify famine”.
Jean-Raphael Poitou, Middle East programme director for the NGO Action Against Hunger, quoted by AFP, said the “continuous displacements” of Gazans ordered by the Israeli military, along with restrictions on movement in the most affected regions “complicate things enormously”.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected accusations of a starvation taking place in Gaza. Speaking on Sunday, he said: “What a bold-faced lie. There is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza.”