New York, May 15 (QNA) - Several UN agencies warned today of a rapidly worsening food emergency in Somalia, pushing 6 million people, or 31 percent of the population, into critical levels of food insecurity between April and June.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Programme (WFP) confirmed in a joint statement that Somalia is currently facing one of the world's worst malnutrition crises, affecting approximately 1.9 million children, including 493,000 facing severe acute malnutrition, making them 12 times more likely to die than their well-nourished peers.
The agencies have called for an urgent increase in life-saving, multi-sectoral humanitarian assistance, warning of the risk of famine looming over communities dependent on agriculture and pastoral livelihoods in the Burhaqaba district of southwestern Somalia. This risk is posed by a "worst-case scenario" of insufficient rainfall during the current rainy season (April-June), continued sharp increases in food prices, and a failure to expand humanitarian aid to reach the most vulnerable populations by June.
They explained that the current escalating crisis is due to a confluence of shocks, including severe drought, insecurity, severely limited humanitarian access, the effects of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, and the increased risk of flooding in riverine and low-lying areas. (QNA)