The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) says the number of children suffering dire drought conditions across Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has more than doubled in five months. According to a UNICEF statement Thursday, around 20.2 million children are now facing the threat of severe hunger, thirst and disease, compared to 10 million in July, as climate change, conflict, global inflation and grain shortages devastate the region.
“While collective and accelerated efforts have mitigated some of the worst impact of what had been feared, children in the Horn of Africa are still facing the most severe drought in more than two generations,” said Lieke van de Wiel, UNICEF Deputy Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
Nearly two million children across Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia are currently estimated to require urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of hunger. More than two million people across the region are displaced internally because of drought. Water insecurity has more than doubled with close to 24 million people now confronting dire water shortages.
"Humanitarian assistance must be continued to save lives and build the resilience of the staggering number of children and families who are being pushed to the edge – dying from hunger and disease and being displaced in search of food, water and pasture for their livestock,” van de Wiel said.
The UN Children’s Fund warns of funding shortfall as the region faces an unprecedented fifth consecutive failed rainy season and poor outlook for the sixth.
“As governments and people across the world prepare to welcome a New Year, we urge the international community to commit to responding now for what might hit the Horn of Africa next year, and in the years to come,” said van de Wiel. “We need a global effort to mobilize resources urgently to reduce further devastating and irreversible damage to children in the Horn of Africa. We must act now to save children’s lives, preserve their dignity and protect their futures.”
Across the Horn of Africa, more than 36 million people are now affected by the drought. An estimated 1.7 million people have been internally displaced in Somalia and Ethiopia alone, while over 80,000 refugees have crossed borders from Somali and South Sudan into drought affected areas of Kenya and Ethiopia this year, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Further information
Full text: More than twenty million children suffering in the Horn of Africa as drought intensifies – UNICEF, UNICEF press release, published December 22, 2022
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/more-twenty-million-children-suffering-horn-africa-drought-intensifies-unicef
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