The 2015–2016 El Niño phenomenon resulted in the worst drought in 35 years for much of southern Africa. In the eight most-affected countries (Angola, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe), an estimated 16.1 million people will required assistance between December 2016 and March 2017, including some 5 million children who required urgent humanitarian assistance. Southern Africa continues to experience the follow – on impacts of the El Niño drought and the La Niña floods. Acute food insecurity has begun to improve due to improved rains across southern Africa. Although the harvest has improved, the lingering impact of El Niño and La Niña, has contributed further to poor health for children, pockets of high malnutrition in Zimbabwe and southern Madagascar, ongoing school dropout and child protection concerns. The loss of revenue caused by the drought has rendered many vulnerable groups less able to access basic services necessary to facilitate adequate recovery from the impact of the drought. In seven countries (Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland and Zimbabwe) UNICEF is seeking to support 2.9 million people of whom 2.3 million are children.