Humanitarians fear the worst. The situation is likely to be worse than during the last famine in 2011 which killed 260,000 people, more than half of them children under five.
Without a rapid increase in humanitarian assistance, “famine is expected before the end of the year”, the number two of the national office of the World Food Program (WFP), Laura Turner, told journalists in Geneva from Mogadishu.
After four failed rainy seasons since the end of 2020 and with a fifth one promising to be similar, Somalia is sinking inexorably into famine.
Across the country, 7.8 million people, nearly half of the population, are affected by the drought, of which 213,000 are in serious danger of starvation, according to the UN.
Without urgent action, a state of famine will be declared in the southern regions of Baidoa and Burhakaba between October and December, the UN warned in early September.
In recent months, WFP has expanded its activities in Somalia, helping a record number of people. This crisis now represents the largest operation of the organization in the world.
In September, WFP distributed food and cash to nearly 4.2 million people in the country.
“However, Somalia is by no means out of danger yet. We remain extremely concerned about the dire situation in the country and are in a race against time,” Ms. Turner said.
She explained that three thresholds must be met for famine to be declared: “The first is extreme lack of food. The second is acute malnutrition. And the third is mortality.”
“Unfortunately, malnutrition rates are skyrocketing. Mortality rates are also on the rise. In fact, only the distribution of food aid can avert famine,” she explained.
– Children die “almost every hour” –
In a note sent to the media, the WFP specifies that famine has been declared in an area where at least 20% of households face extreme food shortages, at least 30% of children under 5 suffer from acute malnutrition and the daily death rate exceeds 2 adults or 4 children per 10,000.
“1.8 million children – half of the country’s children – suffer from severe acute malnutrition. Half of these children may die if we do not provide them with prompt treatment,” the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Somalia, Dr Mamunur Rahman Malik, from Mogadishu.
The WHO also needs additional funds to reach everyone who needs it and fears large outbreaks of cholera or measles.
“We have seen death and disease thrive when hunger and food crises are prolonged,” the WHO official warned. “We shouldn’t have to wait for a declaration of famine to prevent people from dying.”
He said he visited health centers in the country where he saw how health personnel are trying to cope with the increasing influx of children suffering from cholera, diarrheal diseases, measles and pneumonia.
In one center, about 100 children with serious illnesses had to be cared for by just two health workers, in very difficult working conditions, he said.
“I saw children dying almost every hour in some of the health centers I visited – many of them had walked miles and miles in search of food and water but their weakened bodies n just couldn’t make the last mile,” he said.
