As a possible famine looms, an increasing number of children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition, cholera or acute watery diarrhea in Somalia, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Thursday.
More than 35,400 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition were treated with life-saving therapeutic food at hundreds of nutrition centres across Somalia in January and February. That’s a 58 percent increase over the same period in 2016.
As of this week, more than 18,400 cases of cholera and acute watery diarrhea have also been reported since the beginning of the year, the majority of the cases involving young children.
UNICEF warns that during the 2011 famine, around 130,000 young children died; about half of them before the famine was officially declared.
“These numbers are a wake-up call,” Leila Pakkala, the UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, said after speaking with displaced families and patients at a cholera treatment centre in Baidoa, Somalia.
“Children are dying from malnutrition, hunger, thirst and disease,” Pakakala said. “During the 2011 famine, around 130,000 young children died, about half of them before famine was declared. We are working with partners around the clock to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”