Somalia (MNN) — An East African drought has caused Somalia’s worst food shortage in 50 years. Livestock is dying in droves, and families are starving. The war in Ukraine means less food gets imported into the country.
Is it a famine?
Photo courtesy of Peter Caton for World Concern.
Still, the government has not yet declared famine officially. Cathy Herholdt with World Concern explains why. “Things need to reach a certain level for an official famine to be declared. And those things are this: at least 20 percent of the population is facing extreme food shortages, at least 30 percent of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, and at least two people out of every 10,000 are dying each day due to starvation or a combination of severe hunger and illness.”
These things are happening in pockets of Somalia but not the whole country. Several humanitarian groups issued a joint statement, saying global aid can’t wait until the famine is officially declared.
Herholdt concurs. She says, “I spoke with our country director recently. He said they had gone out to a village to assess the situation. As soon as they pulled in, there was a mother who just ran up to the vehicle with her child in her arms, and the child was just on the brink of death.”
“They put them both in the vehicle and tried to make it to a health clinic 50 kilometers away. And unfortunately, the child passed away in the car on the way there.”
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This work in a couple of ways. First, Herholdt says the ministry is distributing Nutripackets. “These are emergency nutrition supplements for children ages six months to about two or three years. And they’re just little peanut butter paste packets fortified with protein, minerals, and all the healthy fats that a child needs to recover quickly.”
They also truck in water to the hardest hit areas. Herholdt says, “We give people vouchers because they can receive a limited amount of water daily. We also do cash transfers so that they can purchase whatever their family needs, whether that’s medicine, seeing a doctor, or food.”
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The header photo shows dead carcasses of drought-stricken animals in Somaliland. (Photo courtesy of Peter Caton for World Concern)
