UNICEF warns of unprecedented child deaths due to severe drought

The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, UNICEF, says one child is being admitted for medical treatment for malnutrition every minute in Somalia as severe drought threatens to cause the deaths of children on a scale not seen in several years.

In a briefing in Geneva, the UN children’s agency’s spokesperson, James Elder, said the situation in Somalia already appears worse now than in 2011, when famine killed more than 250,000 people in the Horn of Africa country.

The UN agency urged donors to step up support amid historic drought as thousands of severely malnourished boys and girls in Somalia are at risk of dying.

So far, Unicef says its Staff have treated more than 300,000 children for severe acute malnutrition, while the agency’s emergency water trucking has reached half a million people in the last three months.

UN agencies have been warning for months about the looming famine in the Horn of Africa, where the worst drought in 40 years is affecting more than 20 million people across several countries.

In Somalia, famine is projected in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts in Bay Region between this month and December, if aid does not reach those most in need.

Five failed rainy seasons have led to massive crop failure, livestock deaths and mass displacements.

The UN is warning that 6.7 million people will need food aid in Somalia in the coming months – a total of 40% of the population.