mVAM Bulletin 39 - July 2019

North-Western Syria continues to record deteriorated levels of food consumption

Situation Update Key Figures Methodology

- The ongoing fighting between government forces and non-state armed groups 2,081 This mVAM bulletin is based on data collected via live telephone still impacts the security situation in north-western Syria. Civil infrastructure Households Surveyed interviews in July 2019 from households in locations across Syria. has been affected by airstrikes and two water stations were damaged in The telephone numbers called were generated using random-digit Basida and Ma’arrat Al Nu’man cities as well as several health facilities in Idleb dialing. governorate. Additionally, in mid-July, governorate has been affected 17% Starting from July 2017, districts were combined into 19 strata by tensions that resulted in a lot of causalities. Poor Food Consumption in Aleppo based on their accessibility. Since October 2018, the accessible Key Points areas are Aleppo, As-Sweida, Al-Hasakeh, , Dar’a, , - An estimated 518,000 people have been displaced since 1 May 2019 with , Rural Damascus, , Deir-ez-Zor and Ar-Raqqa, most IDPs coming from northern Hama and southern Idleb governorates of 41 Lattakia and Tartous. Hard-to-reach (HTR) areas are Aleppo HTR, whom many have been displaced more than one time. Most of the IDPs headed Dar’a HTR, Quneitra HTR, Idleb HTR, Deir-ez-Zor and Ar-Raqqa HTR, towards northern Idleb and Aleppo governorates. Respondents' Average Age Homs and Hama HTR, and Rural Damascus HTR. - Highest percentage of households The sampling frame groups together areas with similar geography with inadequate food consumption - In north-western Syria, WFP General Food Assistance from Turkey increased and accessibility, allowing for a large enough sample size to make its target to reach 933,000 people in July. Since May, WFP has supported more statistically significant comparisons. during July was reported in Ar-Raqqa, 12% than 256,000 people with life-saving emergency food assistance. Ma’arrat An Female More details on the methodology can be found here Deir Ez-Zor, Aleppo, Al-Hasakeh and Nu’man district in Idleb has been classified as a hard to reach area for the first headed households http://vam.wfp.org/sites/mvam_monitoring/read_me_syria.pdf 88% Homs. time and in early July, WFP delivered food assistance to 15,000 people there. Male Intensification of hostilities forced the temporary suspension of WFP headed households - There is a reported increase in assistance in southern Idleb governorate from 25 to 28 July, affecting the provision of humanitarian assistance to some 13,400 people. While WFP depending on food-based coping operations in northern Hama governorate remain suspended due to the 14% 29% strategies among returnees and ongoing hostilities, affecting food distributions to some 7,000 people. WFP will Returnee IDP female-headed households. resume distributions in these areas as soon as conditions allow. 57% Resident - Unemployment and high food prices ranked as top difficulties faced by .. households during July. 32% Urban

WFP Syria North-Western Syria Emergency Situation Report #4, 16 July 2019 68% Rural Accessible Hard To Reach SYRIA mVAM Bulletin 39 - July 2019

Prevalence of households with poor food consumption increased in Aleppo especially among returnee households.

Map1 : Percentage of households by aggregated governorate with Figure 2 : Percentage of households with poor and borderline FC in the last six months according to - In July 2019, the overall levels of inadequate food consumption did not change significantly since last month with around one out of four of households reported poor or borderline food Poor and Borderline Food Consumption Displacement Status consumption. National Average <15% IDP Returnee Resident - At governorate level, accessible areas of Deir-ez-Zor and Ar-Raqqa registered the highest 15-25% percentage of households with reported inadequate food consumption (poor and borderline levels) Feb 32% >25% with almost 38 percent. However, the accessible areas of Aleppo recorded the highest percentage of households with poor food consumption (17 percent). Mar 30% - An increase in percent of poor food consumption during July was also recorded among returnee % % % 1 2 1

households. National average poor food consumption levels reached 11 percent representing a 6 % 3 2 % 3 % 7 Apr % 28% 4 8 2 % percent increase compared with June. In particular 20 percent of surveyed returnee households in 2 % % 2 % 1 % 9 2 % 6 % 1 % % 9 7 1 7 1 7 2

Aleppo reported poor food consumption levels in July. % 8 7 1 1 1 % 1 4 1 1 % 4 1 % % % 5 May 20% 1 1 1 % % % % 0 % 1 % % %

- Insufficient consumption of protein rich food items was reported in July in all accessible areas of 1 1 9 8 8 9 1 8 6 6 6 l l l

Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor, and Ar-Raqqa where households reported consuming these items maximum r y r y r y r r r b n b n b n u u u a a a a a a p p p e e e u u u

twice per week on average. However an improvement in households’ consumption of vegetables Jun 25% J J J J J J A A A F F F and fruits on national level was also noticed since the beginning of the harvest season and M M M M M M continued in July. Borderline Food Consumption Poor Food Consumption Jul 22% *Areas displayed with gray color have no available information

Figure 1 : Percentage of households by aggregated governorate with inadequate food consumption (Feb 2019 - July 2019) Map 2 : Average weekly consumption (July 2019 ) by aggregated governorates for Proteins

Aleppo Aleppo HTR Al-Hasakeh As-Sweida National Average 37% 36% 29% 13% Feb 3

Damascus Dar'a Dar'a HTR Deir-ez-Zor/Raqqa 38% Mar 3 14% 17% 9% Apr 3

Deir-ez-Zor/Raqqa HTR Hama Homs Homs and Hama HTR May 3 26% 24% 28% 23% Jun 3 Lattakia Rural Damascus HTR Rural Damascus Tartous Jul 3 11% 22% 19% 18% 2 days 3 days 4 days 5 days l l l l r r r r r r r r y y y y b n b n b n b n u u u u a a a a p p p p a a a a e e e e u u u u J J J J J J J J A A A A F F F F M M M M

M M M M *Areas displayed with gray color have no available information SYRIA mVAM Bulletin 39 - July 2019

An increase in relying on food based coping strategies among returnees and female-headed households

Figure 3 : Mean rCSI in the last six months according to Map3 : Mean rCSI by aggregated governorates (July 2019) - In July, the national average rCSI slightly increased to reach 16.2 driven by an increase in the percent of households who adopted restricting food consumption of adults to reach 44 percent and reducing Displacement Status rCSI National 4-18 number of meals eaten per day to reach 50 percent as adopted food-based coping strategies. Average >19 IDP Returnee Resident 8

- The highest average rCSI level in July was registered in Hama followed by hard-to-reach areas of . 3

Deir-ez-Zor and Ar-Raqqa where rCSI reached 23.6 and 21.7 respectively. The use of food-based coping 2 Feb 16.1 5

strategies increased also significantly during July in Aleppo where the percent of households resorting . 3 9 0 . 8 7 . . . 1

to limiting food portion sizes increased reach 69 percent. 8 8 7 6 7

2 Mar 18.6 1 . 0 9 . 1 1 . 1 . 6 6 9 6 5 . 4 1 3 1 . . 1 1 4 4

- Nationally, rCSI levels recorded an increase among returnees where it reached 17.9 on average in July, 4 1 1 with almost a 3 point increase compared with last month, where 70 percent of returnees relied on less 1 Apr 17.4 expensive food to cope with food shortage.

Female-headed households continued to rely more on food based coping strategies during July where May 16.2 the rCSI average for female-headed households increased in July to reach 20.5 compared with 16.1 in June. The increase is likely driven by an increase in the percent of households opting to restrict adults’ Jun 15.3 food consumption in favor for children to eat more, which has reached 53 percent in July compared with 35 percent in June. l l l r r r y y y u u u a a a a a a Jul 16.2 J J J

M M M *Areas displayed with gray colors have no available information M M M

Figure 4 : Mean rCSI by aggregated governorates in the last six months Figure 5: Percentage of households who adopt.. All coping strategies in the last six months according to Head of Household Sex

Aleppo Aleppo HTR Al-Hasakeh As-Sweida Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Less Expensive Food 69% 79% 80% 57% 58% 74% Buy Food on Credit 68% 81% 69% 73% 75% 69% 16.5 12.1 17.7 14.7 Reduce Number of Meals 52% 72% 57% 59% 49% 59% e l

Damascus Dar'a Dar'a HTR Deir-ez-Zor/Raqqa a Restrict Consumption 62% 62% 40% 51% 24% 53%

m Borrow Or Help 53% 58% 58% 67% 51% 61% e 13.0 17.0 18.2 18.5 F Limit portion Size 52% 62% 43% 40% 32% 60% Spend Savings 29% 14% 5% 9% 8% 17% Deir-ez-Zor/Raqqa HTR Hama Homs Homs and Hama HTR Sell Assets 20% 4% 5% 5% 5% 3% 21.8 23.6 Less Expensive Food 67% 71% 71% 61% 63% 62% 18.2 13.0 Buy Food on Credit 58% 62% 64% 65% 63% 61% Lattakia Rural Damascus HTR Rural Damascus Tartous Reduce Number of Meals 49% 55% 56% 43% 46% 49% e

14.0 l Restrict Consumption 43% 50% 48% 40% 41% 43%

14.4 a Borrow Or Help 48% 52% 52% 54% 51% 50% 14.8 14.4 M Limit portion Size 44% 46% 49% 44% 44% 45% l l l l r r r r r r r r y y y y b n b n b n b n u u u u a a a a p p p p Spend Savings 14% 15% 16% 11% 17% 16% a a a a e e e e u u u u J J J J J J J J A A A A F F F F M M M M M M M M Sell Assets 9% 10% 7% 6% 7% 8% SYRIA mVAM Bulletin 39 - July 2019

In the words of respondents

Each month, respondents are asked to identify the main problems their families are facing. Below is an overview of the main problems reported by households based on their displacement status and gender of the head of household.

Figure 6: Main problems faced by surveyed householdsaccording to displacement status and head of household sex (July 2019)

Unemployment High Prices Electricity Rent Medicines Fuel Prices

Female 61% 16% 4% 15% 3% Arif Husain IDP [email protected] Siddharth Krishnaswamy Male 73% 8% 1% 16% 2% 0% [email protected]

Eliana Favari Female 68% 17% 4% 4% 4% 3% [email protected] Resident Amira Swedan [email protected] Male 73% 13% 6% 4% 3% 1%

mVAM Resources Female 81% 10% 10% Website http://vam.wfp.org/sites/mvam_monitori Returnee ng/ 71% 6% 15% 4% 2% 1% Male ..