The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) on Tuesday said hundreds of children have already died in nutrition centres across Somalia, reported The Reuters. The shocking revelation comes a day after the global body warned that parts of Somalia will be hit by famine in the coming months.
“Some 730 children have been reported to have died in food and nutrition centers across the country between January and July this year but the numbers could be more as many deaths go unreported,” UNICEF Somalia representative Wafaa Saeed told a Geneva press briefing.
Saeed warning that the true figure could be much higher, with the country nearing famine. She added that malnutrition has reached an unprecedented level in the drought-hit country.
The UNICEF official said some 1.5 million children, nearly half aged under five, are at risk of acute malnutrition and among those, 385,000 will need treatment for severe acute malnutrition.
Seed said the drought had also led to a water and sanitation crisis, because many of the water sources had dried up.
“Many of those have also dried out because of overuse, and we have around 4.5 million people who need emergency water supplies,” she said.
That figure is expected to rise as the drought worsens and, according to UNICEF. Furthermore, the price of water has also increased by between 55 percent and 85 per cent since January.
Saeed said no matter how much food a malnourished child eats, if he or she doesn’t get clean water then they won’t be able to recover.
Notably, Somalia is in the grip of the worst drought in four decades after four failed rainy seasons wiped out livestock and crops. The Horn of Africa region is on track for a fifth consecutive failed rainy season as well. A famine in 2011 in Somalia claimed more than a quarter of a million lives, most of them children.
