MOGADISHU (Halbeeg News) – Seven million USD is needed before the end of March to urgently support 1.4 million children likely to suffer from acute malnutrition in Somalia, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) appealed.
In a statement, UNICEF said the money will be used to procure 104,000 cartons of Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Foods (RUTF) for the treatment of children with severe acute malnutrition and avert deaths.
“The numbers we are seeing this year are quite high and unless urgent measures are taken, thousands of children are at risk of dying,” the UNICEF Representative Angela Kearney said.
The agency said that a potential break in the supplies pipeline could result in a serious shortage of RUTF from June onwards and imperil the lives of more than 100,000 children.
According to UNICEF, more than 1.4 million children in Somalia, nearly half of the country’s under-five population, are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition due to the ongoing drought that has left 4.1 million people on the brink.
The agency said about a quarter of the 1.4 million children, equivalent to 329,500 children, will suffer from severe malnutrition this year.
“We know that humanitarian emergencies of this magnitude disproportionately affect children,” Kearney said.
Kearney recalled three consecutive seasons of failed rains combined with ongoing conflicts in many parts of Somalia have left a quarter of the population needing immediate food assistance.
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