UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Flooding, swarms of desert locust, COVID-19 and earlier shocks could threaten more than 5 million people in Somalia with acute food insecurity by the end of the year, UN humanitarians said on Wednesday.

Also, nearly 850,000 children under the age of five are likely to be acutely malnourished through August 2021, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"Despite multiple shocks this year, high levels of sustained humanitarian assistance by the United Nations and humanitarian partners and government support have played a critical role in stabilizing and preventing worse acute food insecurity outcomes in the country," it said.

Some 1.85 million people have been reached with food assistance every month since April, 1.4 million people with health services, more than 635,000 people have been reached with water, sanitation and hygiene services, and 255,000 people have been provided with nutritional support.

However, the Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia seeks 1.01 billion U.S. dollars to help 3 million people, but it is only 58 percent funded, OCHA said. "Additional funding is urgently required to sustain humanitarian assistance to prevent deteriorating food security outcomes for vulnerable Somalis." Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)