MALAWI PEOPLE IN NEED 6.5M PEOPLE TARGETED 6.5M REQUIREMENTS (US$) 380M AVAILABLE FUNDS, GOV. 50M AVAILABLE FUNDS PARTNERS 66.5M Sectors Requested Food 6.5M Wash People Targeted 775k People Targeted Health & Nutrition 500k People Targeted Education 280k People Targeted 50 Overview/Context On 12 April 2016, the President of the Republic of Malawi declared a State of National Disaster due to food shortages caused by dry spells, which affected most parts of the country, as well as flooding in the northern part of Malawi, during the 2015/16 agricultural season. An MVAC pre-harvest assessment (released in March 2016) found that the country’s three regions experienced dry spells due to effects of the El Niño phenomenon, with the central and southern regions hit harder than the north. Heavy rains extended to early June in 2016 which exacerbated the flooding situation in some parts of the northern region. A total of 44,462 people were affected as a result of the heavy rains. Food insecurity continues to aggravate Malawi’s fragile nutrition situation, with vulnerable groups and people on ART and/or TB treatment feeling the heavy consequences of drought. According to the current malnutrition prevalence and incidence rates, approximately 129,653 of children under age 5 will be targeted for lifesaving treatment of severe acute malnutrition and 193,158 children to be targeted for treatment of moderate acute malnutrition. Similarly 80,798 pregnant and lactating women (PLW) will be targeted for moderate malnutrition. The total number of people in need of nutritional humanitarian assistance stands at 358,945. There is an urgent need for more funding to expand lifesaving therapeutic treatment of acute malnutrition, which is essential to prevent avoidable morbidity and mortality. The already precarious situation in Malawi, especially for children, will be further compromised by the drought. From October 2015 to date, acute malnutrition has increased, as evidenced by a significant growth in the number of admissions to community management of acute malnutrition (CMAM) treatment facilities across the country. According to the 2015 Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) Update, only 41 per cent of Malawians have access to improved sanitation while access to clean water supply stands at 90 per cent. This is significant progress from 1990 where access to sanitation and clean water stood at 29 per cent and 42 per cent respectively. Coverage of water supply looks high but actual use can be intermittent due to the high rate of service breakdown due to flooding, recurrent drought and inadequate maintenance. Furthermore, although coverage for community water supply and sanitation is relatively high, WASH related diseases, such as diarrhoea, continue to be the second greatest killers of children in Malawi. According to the JMP Update of 2015, handwashing with soap was very low at 3 per cent. Malawi is highly vulnerable to severe natural shocks such as erratic rains, dry spells and flooding. As a result of flooding, the country registered 1,686 cholera cases since December 2015, with 46 deaths. Emergency WASH responses therefore play a critical role in saving lives of children and alleviating human suffering. Key Humanitarian Needs According to the recent MVAC Annual Assessment, Malawi experienced a maize production deficit of 768,687 tonnes against annual requirements, and there is thus an urgent need to import maize. The total affected population (using survival threshold) is 6,491,847 for which 375,393 tonnes of