Nearly 40% of Somalia’s population faces extreme levels of food insecurity and some areas are likely already experiencing famine, several United Nations agencies worried on Tuesday (April 12) after the publication of a new report.
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This report, using the IPC (Integrated Food Security Phase Classification) index,shows that six million Somalis, or nearly 40% of the population, now face extreme levels of food insecurity, with pockets likely (experiencing) famine conditions in six areas of the country“say in a press release the World Food Program (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNICEF and the humanitarian coordination agency Ocha. “Somalia is facing famine conditions with the combination of poor rains, skyrocketing food prices and huge funding shortfalls“, adds these agencies.
The country “on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe”
Somalia, like Ethiopia and Kenya, has been facing a severe drought for several months and, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, there is a lack of funds to respond to the crisis, they add. About 1.4 million children will face acute malnutrition by the end of the year, affected by food and milk shortages, according to the text. The agencies say they have been able to reach around 2 million people, but only 4.4% of the 1.5 billion dollars (1.37 billion euros) needed for the year 2022 have been raised so far. , says the UN.
“We are literally about to take food from the hungry to feed the starvingsaid El-Khidir Daloum, WFP representative in Somalia, in a statement. He believes that the country ison the brink of a humanitarian disaster“. In 2017, early humanitarian mobilization averted a famine in Somalia, unlike 2011 when 260,000 people – half of them children under the age of six – died of hunger or hunger-related disorders.
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In recent years, natural disasters – not conflict – have been the main cause of displacement in Somalia, a country ranked among the most vulnerable to climate change. On Tuesday, the WFP expressed concern about “huge waves» travel within the country.
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