The IPC Technical Manual 3.0 includes a new classification for IPC Phase 5, Famine-Likely’, a complete range of IPC classification scales, and new parameters for food insecurity and malnutrition analysis in locations to which there is limited or no access during humanitarian crises.

The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)

The IPC is a global initiative that provides decision-makers with consensus-based food security and nutrition analysis. Initially developed in Somalia in 2004 to meet the need for evidence-based information to facilitate effective humanitarian response, it analyses and classifies the nature and severity of food insecurity and malnutrition in over 30 countries in Africa, Asia and the Near East, and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The IPC classifies the severity of food insecurity and malnutrition, and identifies areas of highest concern

The IPC was the basis for the declaration of famines in Somalia in 2011 and in South Sudan in 2017, and informed humanitarian response decisions.

IPC Technical Manual 3.0

The new ‘Famine Likely’ classification in IPC Phase 5 (Famine) boosts the IPC’s ability to warn of potential famine situations in contexts where circumstances on the ground prevent the collection of sufficient evidence for declaring a famine, but where a famine scenario is likely to occur.

The new manual also includes a more complete range of IPC classification scales: Acute Food Insecurity, Acute Malnutrition, and Chronic Food Insecurity. These help decision-makers better understand the drivers of and linkages between the three conditions, so that they can design response actions that comprehensively address food insecurity and malnutrition.

The manual also provides clearer guidance and tools on the analytical process, including guidelines for strategic communications to ensure that the right information is conveyed to the right people at the right time.

Informing the Global Report on Food Crises

"The Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) forms, together with the Cadre Harmonisé in West Africa, the basis for the elaboration of the Global Report on Food Crises", says Thierry Nègre, JRC scientist, member and co-founder of the IPC Steering Committee.

The Global Report on Food Crises 2019 was launched on 2 April 2019 In Brussels on the occasion of the High Level Event  'Food and Agriculture in times of crises' held in the presence of Commissioners Mimica, Stylianides and Hogan, and High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Mogherini.

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