The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) are stepping up efforts to help communities in Somaliland and Puntland cope with a severe drought worsened by El Nino conditions, a UN spokesman said here Monday.| And they never seem to get anywhere... |
The two agencies are providing an integrated package of life-saving humanitarian assistance to halt the deteriorating food security and rising malnutrition in the affected areas of Somaliland and Puntland, where 385,000 need immediate assistance, while another 1.3 million are on the brink of slipping into a deeper crisis if rains continue to fall and aid is too slow to come.
“The communities have lived through four successive poor rainy seasons, and their ability to cope with the drought has been stretched to the limit,” said the UNICEF representative for Somalia, Steven Lauwerier.
“Our concerted efforts are needed now to save the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families. Any delay from the international community will put their lives further at risk of hunger and disease,” he said.
In addition to increased malnutrition cases and enrolment in nutrition programmes in the most affected areas, malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in areas such as Awdal region bordering Ethiopia.
In response, UNICEF is strengthening services at community level, deploying joint mobile health and nutrition teams to reach pastoral and other hard-to-reach groups. UNICEF is also providing 50,000 households with access to safe water via vouchers in the affected areas, and have repaired seven boreholes.
For its part, the WFP has provided food assistance and nutrition support for 147,000 vulnerable people in the areas worst affected by the drought, and the WFP continues to provide food or cash-based assistance to help families make it through the dry season.
“The people of Somalia know all too well the dangers of drought, but a drought does not have to mean a disaster — the world must recognize that we can save lives if we act in time,” said WFP Country Director Laurent Bukera. “It is absolutely critical that we are able to sustain assistance to the people affected by this crisis, so we can stem the damage of undernutrition for mothers and children before it has lifelong consequences.”
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