The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Monday disclosed that they are stepping up efforts in northern Somalia, to help communities cope with a severe drought exacerbated by El Nino conditions in Somaliland and Puntland.
The two agencies have adopted a unified response to halt the deteriorating food insecurity and rising malnutrition in the affected areas, by providing an integrated package of life-saving humanitarian assistance.
They are providing food assistance, nutrition programmes, and health services, as well as support to help communities’ access safe water and improve sanitation and hygiene conditions.
Amid rising school dropouts and forced migration, the focus is also on keeping children in schools and protecting them from family separation, violence and abuse, they noted.
“The communities have lived through four successive poor rainy seasons. Their ability to cope with the drought has been stretched to the limit,” UNICEF Representative for Somalia, Steven Lauwerier said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
In addition to increased malnutrition cases and enrolment in nutrition programmes in the most affected areas, malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in areas such as Awdal region bordering Ethiopia.
In response, UNICEF is strengthening services at community level, deploying joint mobile health and nutrition teams to reach pastoral and other hard-to-reach groups.
“The people of Somalia know all too well the dangers of drought, but a drought does not have to mean a disaster – the world must recognize that we can save lives if we act in time,” said WFP Country Director Laurent Bukera.
So far, WFP’s emergency response has provided food assistance and nutrition support for 147,000 vulnerable people in the areas worst affected by the drought, and WFP continues to provide food or cash-based assistance to help families make it through the dry season.