Horn of Africa: Children Affected by Severe Drought
By Henry Neondo
NAIROBI---More than 1.8 million children under the age of five are now in need of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa, UNICEF warned Thursday.
The latest drought, in combination with spiraling fuel and food prices, has further deteriorated the nutritional status of children.
The most affected areas of this latest drought are in central and southern Somalia, southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, northern and eastern Kenya as well as parts of Uganda. The drought in the Horn has been attributed to the effects of the “La Niña” atmospheric phenomenon, the strongest in a century, which already reduced the level of precipitation during the last rainy season at the end of 2010.
“Beyond our emergency response, we have to strengthen children’s and their families’ resilience to help them cope better with the recurrent drought situations in the region,” said UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, Elhadj As Sy.
He adds that in addition to short term food, water and nutritional support there is a need for more effective policy, programmatic and governance actions to bolster populations within these difficult livelihood environments.
Although late rains in May have brought temporary relief to some of these areas by improving access to water and pasture, the deeper impact on household income, food security and child nutrition and health remains serious.
Recovery in these areas will require a continuation of extended rains for environmental rehabilitation, well-targeted food and non-food relief assistance and continued child and maternal health outreach services.
The current total number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia stands at 3.2 million. In both Somalia and north-eastern Kenya some 2.4 million people are facing an acute food and livelihood crisis. Another 670,000people are affected in northern Uganda and 120,000 in Djibouti, bringing the total number of people in these countries who need help in terms of nutrition, health and water to 8.8 million.
The crisis led to a sharp increase in the number of malnourished children. The highest percentage can be found in southern Somalia and northern Kenya, where one in four children is acutely malnourished. This is far above the emergency level of 15 per cent as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). These children are facing a significantly higher risk of dying, and when they survive, their physical and social development will be hampered.
In central and south Somalia, 38 per cent of children already dropped out of school as a consequence of the drought, which is further exacerbated by the ongoing conflict. Every month, more than 10,000 refugees from Somalia arrive in the Dadaab camp across the border in Kenya, among them exceptionally high numbers of severely malnourished children.