Life-threatening child malnutrition rates continue to rise to alarming levels in drought affected Somalia, a new study from Save the Children reveals.<\/p>\n
The survey results found \u201cvery critical\u201d levels of severe malnutrition in two of six districts assessed in some of the worst affected parts of Somalia, which could spell disaster for a country where livelihoods have already been decimated and the economy crippled by the drought.<\/p>\n
Seven percent of all children under five in the districts of Badhan and Adado in Somaliland, an autonomous region of Somalia, are severely malnourished. The assessment also found exceptionally high rates of stunting in Hudur district, another part of Somalia heavily impacted by drought and an area devastated by the famine in 2011.<\/p>\n
Less than 10 percent of children in Somalia are currently registered in a nutrition programme according to the study, which warns that children could start dying \u201cin the near future\u201d unless immediate action is taken, including a major and rapid scaling up of nutrition outreach services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are on the brink of a massive catastrophe in Somalia with the death of three quarters of the country\u2019s livestock, a rapid increase of children suffering severe malnutrition and the depletion of water stores in dozens of communities,\u201d said Hassan Saadi Noor, Save the Children\u2019s Country Director in Somalia.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite April traditionally being the wettest month of the year for much of the country, it has barely rained so far. Our fear is that if this pattern continues and the rainy season fails again, we could start seeing children dying in significant numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cDonors have stepped up in recent months, however such is the scale of this crisis that even more funding is needed to address malnutrition directly, including improving access to food and water to prevent it in the first place. And regardless of whether the rains come or not, children must be treated for malnutrition now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Save the Children\u2019s mobile health teams in Somaliland also reported a dramatic increase in the proportion of children they have screened who are moderately or severely malnourished, rising from 11 percent to 26 percent between February and March.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last two or three months have been devastating right across Somalia. You see the dead animals everywhere here, and there simply isn\u2019t any pasture left in many parts,\u201d Mr Noor said.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have literally run out of water and children are getting sick all the time. Families have exhausted every option they had and are now left to wait for help and pray for rain.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd as is often the case, it\u2019s the children who are hardest hit. Of the six million people in a state of emergency across Somalia, half are children, struggling to survive without enough food, water and access to health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Save the Children\u2019s assessment data will help form a wider analysis by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe way things are going, famine is a distinct possibility for Somalia. It is an absolute travesty that this is even conceivable when just six years ago this same region was hit by a famine that killed over 250,000 people,\u201d Mr Noor added.<\/p>\n
While drought has left 6.2 million people \u2013 more than half of the population of Somalia \u2013 in need of immediate lifesaving assistance, a further 8.3 million drought affected people in Kenya and Ethiopia are also need of urgent help.<\/p>\n
In the last three months alone, Save the Children has reached more than half a million people just in Somalia, trucking water to the most vulnerable communities, activating dozens of mobile health teams who work across hundreds of drought affected communities assessing and treating malnutrition, and providing other vital hygiene, sanitation and medical support.<\/p>\n
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