{"id":10309,"date":"2022-06-08T21:52:37","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T21:52:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/?p=10309"},"modified":"2022-06-11T07:27:36","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T07:27:36","slug":"unicef-appeals-for-funding-to-avert-child-deaths-in-ea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sooha.org\/en\/2022\/06\/08\/unicef-appeals-for-funding-to-avert-child-deaths-in-ea\/","title":{"rendered":"UNICEF appeals for funding to avert child deaths in EA"},"content":{"rendered":"

MOGADISHU —<\/strong> The United Nations children\u2019s fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday appealed for urgent funding to help avert an \u201cexplosion of child deaths\u201d which it said is looming in East Africa (EA) if the world does not act immediately.<\/p>\n

UNICEF\u2019s Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Rania Dagash said more than 1.7 million children across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, are in urgent need of treatment for severe acute malnutrition.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll three countries have recorded a significantly higher number of severely malnourished children admitted for treatment in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021,\u201d Dagash said in a statement.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said the cost of the life-saving therapeutic food the UN agency uses to treat children with severe acute malnutrition is projected to rise by 16 percent globally over the next six months, meaning UNICEF will require an estimated additional 12 million U.S. dollars in East Africa alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the world does not widen its gaze from the war in Ukraine, and act immediately, an explosion of child deaths is about to happen in the Horn of Africa,\u201d Dagash said.<\/p>\n

She said UNICEF and other agencies have been repeatedly sounding the alarm bell on this crisis and lauded the donors who have made contributions that have enabled the UN agencies to respond to the crisis.<\/p>\n

Dagash said the international community \u2013 led by the G7 who will meet in Germany in June \u2013 needs to commit new, additional funding now to save lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cFocus on Ukraine cannot lead to neglect of other crises and ultimately more loss of life. We also want to see G7 leaders commit to acting early in future emergencies and investing in long-term resilience work \u2013 like nutrition, water, education, and cash transfer programmes,\u201d Dagash said.<\/p>\n

UNICEF, which has just concluded a visit to Somalia, said Somali children are living on the frontlines of the climate crisis now.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to see significant step-change from the donor community to adequately support families to weather these cyclical climatic shocks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

An estimated 386,000 children in Somalia are now in desperate need of treatment for life-threatening severe acute malnutrition \u2013 exceeding the 340,000 children who required treatment at the time of the 2011 famine, according to UNICEF.<\/p>\n

It said the number of children facing this most deadly form of malnutrition has increased by more than 15 percent in the space of five months.<\/p>\n

Four rainy seasons have failed in the space of two years \u2013 killing crops and livestock and drying up water sources, the UN said, noting that forecasts suggest the next October to December rains are likely to fail too.<\/p>\n

This year, Dagash said, in some of the worst affected areas in the Horn of Africa, three times as many children have already died from severe acute malnutrition with medical complications in in-patient treatment centers compared to the whole of the previous year.<\/p>\n

\u201cBetween February and May, the number of households without reliable access to clean and safe water almost doubled from 5.6 million to 10.5 million,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Dagash said the lives of children in the Horn of Africa are also at increased risk because of the war in Ukraine, noting that Somalia alone used to import 92 percent of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine but supply lines are now blocked.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war is exacerbating spiraling global food and fuel prices, meaning many people in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia can no longer afford the basic foodstuffs they need to survive,\u201d Dagash said.<\/p>\n

Source:\u00a0 The Independent\u00a0 + Xinhua<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Origin: View original<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MOGADISHU — The United Nations children\u2019s fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday appealed for urgent funding to help avert an \u201cexplosion of child deaths\u201d which it said is looming in East Africa (EA) if the world does not act immediately. UNICEF\u2019s Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Rania Dagash said more than 1.7 million children …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,1,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-food-security-cluster","category-news","category-protection-cluster"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t