The number of young children in Somalia who face severe acid malnutrition has risen to over half a million—a level higher than that of the 2011 famine during which tens of thousands of children died – announced today the services of the United Nations.
“We have over half a million children facing preventable death. It’s a nightmare waiting to happen,” said James Elder, his agency spokesman UN for children, of UNICEF, during the press briefing in Geneva adding that this number has not been recorded in any country this century.
The United Nations has warned that parts of Somalia will be hit by famine in the coming months as the Horn of Africa region faces a fifth consecutive year of drought.
In 2011 the famine in Somalia it had claimed the lives of over 250,000 people, of which almost half were children. There are over 513,000 children under-fives who are expected to face severe acute malnutrition, Elder said, meaning they are much more likely to die from diseases such as measles, malaria and cholera which are spreading in the country. This represents a 33% increase in the number of children at risk since June.
UNICEF said last week that more than 700 children have died in feeding centers all over the country. As Elder said, many of these centers are at capacity and infants are being treated on the floor. “There are children in critical condition, without treatment, who are in danger of dying within a few hours,” he warned. For his part, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mr Peter Maurertoday appealed for faster action by the international community pointing out that until a state of emergency is declared emergency too many people will have already died of malnutrition in Somalia, the Athens News Agency reports.
Francesco Rocco, head of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, echoes Maurer’s concerns, warning that the 24 African countries they face the most serious crisis hypositization for decades.
Source: News Beast
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