Somalia’s longest drought on record led to an estimated 43,000 deaths last year, half of the total deaths of children younger than 5 years, a report released by the government and United Nations agencies claims, reported The BBC.
While presenting the report, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, in Mogadishu, UNICEF’s Wafaa Saeed said the report findings present a grim picture of the devastation brought on children and their families by the drought.
The report, commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations children’s agency, warned that the crisis could prove worse than Somalia’s last major drought in 2017 and 2018. It is the first official death toll reported in the drought affecting large parts of the Horn of Africa.
According to the United Nations (UN), five consecutive failed rainy seasons have left half of Somalia’s 17 million people in urgent need of aid, although parts of the country avoided a famine declaration last year. At least 18,000 people and as many as 34,000 people are estimated to die in the first six months of this year. Over a quarter of a million people died in a drought in Somalia back in 2011.
“The current crisis is far from over,” said the report.
Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are reportedly facing a sixth consecutive failed rainy season with increasing global food prices adding to the hunger crisis.
The U.N. and partners earlier this year said they were no longer forecasting a formal famine declaration for Somalia for now but called the situation extremely critical with more than 6 million people hungry in that country alone.
A WHO representative Dr. Mamunur Rahman Malik said the organization is racing against time to prevent deaths and save lives that are avoidable in Somalia’s drought.
The UN said it requires at least $2.6bn (£2.1bn) to fund its Somalia drought response plan this year. So far, less than 15% of the fund has been collected.
