While famine looms in Somalia, malnutrition and disease are rising sharply among Somali children, according to UNICEF. Children are suffering from health issues such as severe malnutrition and cholera.
“More than 35,400 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition were treated with life-saving therapeutic food at hundreds of nutrition centers across Somalia in January and February,” said Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General. Those numbers are reported to be a 58 percent increase over the same period of time in 2016.
“Children are dying from malnutrition, hunger, thirst and disease. During the 2011 famine, around 130,000 young children died, about half of them before famine was declared. We are working with partners around the clock to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” said Leila Pakkala, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
According to Christophe Boulierac, another spokesman of the United Nation, the Somali children who are affected by these intestinal diseases are only in their early childhood. The climate of Somalia could be a major reason why so many young children are suffering from malnutrition and diseases. Somalia has been suffering from the worst drought the country has experienced in 20 years, which has caused those who live there to drink non-potable water. This has resulted in the outbreak of cholera and other serious infectious diseases.
“Over 3,000 people a day are being forced to abandon their homes in search of water and food. This is the highest displacement we’ve witnessed since the 2011 famine, and it’s spiraling higher each day,” says NRC’s Country Director in Somalia, Victor Moses. “The indicators are lining up dangerously with what we saw in the lead up to the 2011 famine.”
In order to combat the famine that has taken over Somalia, UNICEF and its partners are implementing a massive scale up plan. The organization is working to extend the reach of both facility-based and mobile nutrition, water, sanitation and health services. They also have teams in the hardest hit areas who are working with local authorities, partners and communities to treat and prevent malnutrition, acute watery diarrhea (AWD) and cholera. UNICEF Somalia has raised its 2017 funding requirement from $66 million to $147 million.