Natural disasters, epidemics and protracted conflict have left millions of Somalis starving in need of urgent aid.
Distributing free meals to people in Howlwadag, South Mogadishu, Somalia. Photo: AFP
Recently, UN humanitarian agencies called for a meeting of donors in New York, USA this week to quickly address the dire humanitarian situation in Somalia, where about 6,6 million people (or nearly half the population), are food insecure.
In a joint statement issued in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, the organizations said: "To ensure their activities make sense in the Horn of Africa, donors and the international community should not wait until a formal famine declaration is made, while the lives of millions are at stake."
According to observers, a humanitarian disaster did not take place in Somalia by the end of 2022 thanks to timely expanded humanitarian assistance, slightly more rainfall than previously expected, and good coordination among stakeholders. However, humanitarian agencies warn that despite these improvements, food insecurity in Somalia is far from over and is getting worse every day with more than 3 million people displaced.
According to the latest Integrated Food Security Stage Classification (IPC) report, of the 6,6 million people across Somalia facing high levels of acute food insecurity, 1,8 million children are severely malnourished. The country's Ministry of Health recently released an estimate that there will be nearly 43.000 deaths in 2022 due to the effects of prolonged drought, half of which are children under the age of 5.
According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Africa, many factors, including prolonged drought due to climate change, recurrent conflicts, negative socio-economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic and high global food prices, have all created and sustained a humanitarian crisis in the East African country.
Not only is there a serious shortage of hunger in Somalia, but this situation occurs in most of the countries of the Horn of Africa. The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) recently warned that "unprecedented" severe food insecurity has persisted in the Horn of Africa (HOA) countries affected by drought.
In its latest Horn of Africa Drought Situation and Response Report, WFP said countries in the region, mainly Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, are facing severe drought for two and a half years after five dry rainy seasons.
The region is experiencing the most severe and prolonged drought in decades, leading to unprecedented food insecurity in parts of southern and southeastern Ethiopia, the arid and semi-arid regions of Kenya and much of Somalia, the report said.
The Horn of Africa, known for its frequent droughts, has been exacerbated by a variety of factors, including population growth, macroeconomic fluctuations, pandemics, extreme poverty and conflict.
The report states that the Horn of Africa is currently one of the most severely insecurity regions, significantly higher than in other regions of the world. Meanwhile, water shortages for the period from March to May 3 as forecast could have huge consequences for communities. Therefore, WFP emphasized that humanitarian needs in this region will remain high in 5 and the international community needs to increase support in the region to protect people's lives.
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