A recent report by the UN Food Security and Nutrition analysis has warned that the humanitarian situation in Somalia could worsen unless urgent measures are put in place. The announcement comes as the UN and other major aid organizations are relocating to Somalia from the Kenya’s capital Nairobi where they have been based for more than twenty years.
The report also noted that while the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia has halved to 1. 5 million since August 2012, malnutrition rates remain among the highest in the world. It also says the humanitarian assistance could protect livelihoods, reduce acute malnutrition and help the most insecure populations in need of food, for only the next six months.
The reports noted that most areas of Somalia are currently classified as stressed where the poor who have minimal adequate food consumption, cannot afford essential non-food expenditures, and are unable to maintain their livelihoods.
According to figures from the report, a total of 1.5 million people in acute food insecurity represent about 14 percent of the total population. At the height of the famine, 4 million people, or nearly half of the Somalia’s population, were in food security crisis.
The report also mentioned cases of malnutrition among young children and noted that with reduced access to basic services, such as health care and clean water, the ability for these children to reach their potential is severely restricted.
“The report adds that an estimated 215,000 children under-five years of age are acutely malnourished out of which at least 45,000 are severely malnourished. It says two-thirds of these children are in the conflict-stricken southern regions”.
So far, the United Nations has estimated that 1.1 million are internally displaced persons in Somalia with an estimated 615,000 of the IDPs said to be in food security crisis.
However, James Brady, head of office for the UN’s Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Somalia feels that the relocation of several UN agencies back to Somalia will give them much time to address the current humanitarian crisis.
Most recently, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) launched a three year humanitarian appeal for Somalia where it hopes to target 3.8 million Somalis in need.
