More than 500,000 children in Somalia are at risk of starvation
There have been appeals for months – now the ongoing drought in the Horn of Africa is endangering millions of lives. UNICEF warns that small children in particular are at risk of starvation.
Geneva. More than half a million children in east African Somalia are facing acute, life-threatening malnutrition, according to the UN children’s fund Unicef. According to current estimates, without further aid supplies, 513,550 children aged six months to five years are at risk of starving to death in the coming weeks, UNICEF’s James Elder said at a press conference in Geneva.
Malnourished children are 11 times more likely to die from diseases such as diarrhea or measles, according to Unicef. Both diseases have already increased in children this year.
Last week, the United Nations had already warned of a dramatic, imminent famine in Somalia. Between October and December, the regions of Baidoa and Burhakaba are expected to be affected by hunger.
Etienne Peterschmitt, representative of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Somalia, said that the situation in Somalia is developing in a similarly dramatic way to the famine in 2011.
According to the UN, the absence of four rainy seasons in a row and years of violence have hampered the supply of food to the population. The country on the Horn of Africa with around 16 million inhabitants has been shaken by attacks for years. The Islamist terrorist organization Al-Shabaab controls large parts of the south and central regions.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:220913-99-746931/3