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STORY: UN / LOWCOCK LAKE CHAD
TRT: 02:01
SOURCE: UNIFEED
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 28 SEPTEMBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – RECENT, NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations headquarters
28 SEPTEMBER 2017, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, presser
3. Wide shot, reporters
SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The scale up of assistance this year, which is being led by the governments in each of the countries and supported by the international community, has averted what I think could have been a famine in Northeast Nigeria. But there are still millions of people who have suffered a lot and continue to suffer, many of them just a step away from starvation.”
4. Med shot, journalist
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“In field visits to Ngagam, in Diffa, in Niger – Niger, poorest country in the world, Diffa, the poorest region of the poorest country in the world – and then in Maiduguri, in Pulka, in Gwoza, all in Borno State in Nigeria, I met extremely vulnerable people, displaced by the conflict, who told me about the atrocities they’d been subjected to that led them to flee their homes. And told me about the fears that they still harbour. Those people want to go home, they want a chance to rebuild their lives. But they want to do that when it’s safe to do so.”
6. Wide shot, presser
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Mark Lowcock, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Emergency Relief Coordinator:
“The response there has been one of the best responses the world has put together to deal with this kind of problem. And so far in Somalia, famine has been averted. South Sudan as you know, there was a famine declaration in a couple of counties in Unity State. It affected, I think about fifty thousand people earlier in the year. But actually, that situation was brought under control pretty quickly. Yemen, world’s biggest humanitarian crisis, we have so far again averted formal famine declaration, but the levels of suffering in Yemen are really astronomical. I mean, there’s a really dreadful situation.”
10. Med shot, reporter
12. Zoom, end of presser
The Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, told reporters today (28 Sep) that the scale up of assistance this year, has averted what “could have been a famine in Northeast Nigeria.”
Lowcock, who visited Niger and Nigeria earlier this month, said “there are still millions of people who have suffered a lot and continue to suffer, many of them just a step away from starvation.”
The humanitarian official said that in field visits to Ngagam, in Diffa, and to Maiduguri, Pulka, and Gwoza, all in Borno State in Nigeria, he met “extremely vulnerable people” displaced by conflict.
He said “those people want to go home, they want a chance to rebuild their lives. But they want to do that when it’s safe to do so.”
In Niger, the number of food-insecure people is around 1.8 million. Some 800,000 children are affected by acute malnutrition and almost 250,000 people are either internally displaced persons, returnees or refugees from Nigeria.
In northeast Nigeria, around 6.5 million people need life-saving assistance. Nearly 5.2 million are severely food-insecure and 450,000 children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition, this year.
Turning to other areas of the world, Lowcock said “so far in Somalia, famine has been averted” while in South Sudan, there was “a famine declaration in a couple of counties in Unity State,” but “that situation was brought under control pretty quickly.”
In Yemen, he said, “we have so far again averted formal famine declaration, but the levels of suffering in Yemen are really astronomical. I mean, there’s a really dreadful situation.”
