The Lesotho Vulnerability Assessment Committee (LVAC) conducted the annual vulnerability assessment in June 2017, which shows a Food Insecure Population by Year large improvement in food security, in comparison to the previous years. The LVAC assesses food security, nutrition and WASH needs in the 10 districts of Lesotho. In 2017, for the first time, the LVAC also assessed urban vulnerability. The findings indicated that the number of people in need of food assistance has largely decreased and is projected to be around 15% of the population during the next lean season (Oct 2017 – March 2018). The total cereal forecast foresees the production of up to 239,361 metric tonnes, the highest expected harvest in the last years. Despite the crop harvest excess, around 306,942 people will remain food insecure, in rural and urban areas.
The findings also showed that 68.1% of the households have adequate water supply through communal taps (52.7%), piped water (26.9%), unprotected springs (9.7%), protected and other sources (4%). Moreover, 80% of households are using improved sanitation, showing a 10% increase from the previous year. Nonetheless, some of the districts have a high percentage of households using unprotected water sources (10-17% of households in 6 districts). The assessment also highlighted that, for children under 5 years of age, the national prevalence of stunting is 32.6% while the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) is 4.7%.