Save the Children an international organization has warned that more than 347,000 Eswatini people risk death by hunger.

The organisation revealed that of these on the verge of starvation  180,000 are children.

“The situation in Eswatini has been rapidly deteriorating and it’s finally reached a tipping point. One-third of the country is going hungry, and hundreds of thousands of children are suffering as a result,” Dumisani Mnisi, the NGO’s executive director in Eswatini was quoted as saying in the statement.

“Many of them have seen their parents lose jobs as a result of COVID-19 mitigation measures. Others have seen their harvests affected by erratic weather in 2020. The combination has led to needs like we have never seen in recent memory,” read the statement.

Being in urgent need of humanitarian support, over 347,000 people are adversely affected by the pandemic, with 60,000 “experiencing emergency levels of hunger, meaning that without immediate action, they could face starvation or even death,” Save the Children voiced.

Eswatini an absolute monarchy has seen over past months a rapid deterioration in food availability due to COVID-19-related job losses, high food prices, as well as erratic rainfall, leading to a poor harvest at the end of last year, it said.

At least 31% of Eswatini’s population are now “suffering from the food crisis, a markedly worse situation than the last hunger assessment in 2019 when 18% of the population was experiencing severe hunger,” the humanitarian group explained.

Save the Children directed an urgent call on donors “to release funds to support the emergency response and stave off a hunger crisis.”

It also called on the international community to take action to handle the issue.

“We are calling on the international community for support as we rally together to face this challenge,” Save the Children urged.

Malawi government has announced that it is setting up a special comittee to investigate reports of poor performance of students in public schools.

The move follows concerns from the general public that the country’s education system has miserably deteriorated.

Education Minister Agnes Nyalonje said the committee will look into how the education standards can be improved. she said the committee will be formed, “soon”.

“The recent decision by Ombudsman to investigate and audit the selection of 2000 Primary Leaving Certificate of Education (PLCE) graduates to form One will contribute to this reform area,” she said.

In January the Ministry stated that the Ombudsman’s office would launch an independent investigation following concerns surrounding the selection process of the PLCE.

The Minister says the government is considering professionalizing early childhood development (ECD), further outlining plans on how to achieve such.

The Ministry also is scheduled to promote evidence-informed policy and decision making, strengthen school and teacher training college governance and management through establishment of local boards and enhance teacher welfare and development.

According to the Minister, transforming the country’s education system is a journey which everyone must participate, adding that there is a need to prioritize investment in areas of greatest need so that the most disadvantaged children and youth’s get a fair chance in life.

Zimbabwe has approved four COVID-19 vaccines, as the second phase of the country’s vaccination program kicks in.