Over three million Somalis, or a third of the total population, are in dire need of humanitarian assistance this year, UN analysis says. The heart
According to the assessment by the United Nations Food Security Analysis Unit (FSAU), the UN's World Food Program (WFP) has distributed 34,000 tons of food in 2008 to 3.4 million people in this strife-torn country.
The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), for its part, is working to create a permanent sustainable water system. UNICEF and the UN World Health Organization (WHO) are helping to protect some 1.5 million children aged five and under against preventable and water-borne diseases, the UN report said on Friday.
Supplying steady assistance to Somalia will remain the biggest challenge as less aid is coming in, and the situation is certain to worsen now that the European Commission has pulled out from among the top donors, it added.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported that only 18 percent of funds needed for humanitarian work in the Horn of Africa country has been disbursed.