Aid shortfall in Somalia crisis as severe malnutrition hits 60,000 children
February 25, 2009 (NAIROBI) – There are 200,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia including 60,000 severely malnourished ones, the United Nations stated today, appealing for $22.6 million for high priority child nutrition programmes over the next four months and $36 million for water, sanitation and hygiene.
Some of the hardest hit regions are Gedo and Central, where many people are displaced from fighting since an Ethiopian invasion in late 2006. One quarter of all the malnourished, both acute and severe, are in the Gedo and Central regions, according to the UN humanitarian coordinating office (OCHA).
Overall 1.2 million rural people face humanitarian crisis and 2 million more people in crisis are urban poor and internally displaced persons (IDPs). The war-affected areas are further damaged by drought and hyperinflation.
In Gedo the rate of acute malnutrition is above 20%. In the Central areas of Hawd and Addun the rates are 20.8% and 18.4% respectively.
OCHA stated that critical water and sanitation activities “are not taking place due to the lack of immediate funding.” So far, only US$300,000 out of a US$36 million requirement for the sector has been met.
Likewise, nutrition activities suffer from funding shortfalls despite reported wider need. “The Nutrition Cluster has received US$10.7 million against US$66 million required,” stated OCHA today.
While current stockpiles and leftover funds from last year are being used to stem the emergency, OCHA warns that further delay could have dire consequences: “lack of immediate funding for nutrition supplies will delay delivery and affect the timeliness of nutrition response as delivery lead times are up to six months.”
At the end of January, administrators determined that priority projects include US$22.6 million for the upcoming four months to provide feeding interventions to malnourished infants and toddlers in the most critical areas.
Emergency water, sanitation and hygiene programs (WASH) are required in Gedo and Central region, at a cost of US$6 million. The funds would go toward constructing shallow wells, rehabilitation of existing water systems, hygiene education activities, short-term water trucking and construction of latrines in IDP areas.
Water-related disease accounts for one in five deaths for children under five in Somalia, according to the UN.
“Without an immediate injection of funding for emergency nutrition and WASH programming, more people will become acutely malnourished and vulnerable to water-borne diseases especially women and children,” concluded the UN aid organization.
(ST)