Mr. Beasley travelled to the southern city of Baardheere where he met families, including malnourished children and their mothers, who have been forced to leave home and travel long distances to seek humanitarian aid, amid ongoing conflict.
“This new funding will help humanitarian agencies get supplies and staff in place as soon as humanly possible to help avert a further catastrophe in Somalia. But it is no solution. We need all hands on deck and all resources mobilized to prevent famine”.
No end in sight
The funding has been used to support food and nutrition interventions, and to deliver healthcare, water and sanitation, protection, shelter, and education to people in need.
Livestock are dying, and there are critical shortages of water and food. More than a million people have fled their homes and are now living in crowded camps, where humanitarians are scrambling to meet the overwhelming needs.
?#HornofAfrica Drought?
Staff are providing food and cash assistance to families, in addition to distributing fortified foods to women and children as malnutrition rates spiral. Cash grants and insurance schemes are also helping households to buy food to keep their livestock alive, or to compensate them when they die.
WFP said the drought is expected to continue in the coming months as a fifth poor rainy season is forecast later this year.
Food and cash assistance
Support is urgent.
WFP chief David Beasley on Thursday wrapped up a visit to Somalia, where the risk of famine is high.
At the start of the year, we warned that 13 million people were at risk…
? https://t.co/cTUpmZNuw9
Support for Somalia
The agency is doing everything possible to support the most vulnerable people, but urgently requires around 8 million over the next six months to meet the increasing needs.
Meanwhile, WFP is focused on using available funds to increase assistance in the worst-hit areas. The aim is to target some 8.5 million people across the region, up from 6.3 million at the start of the year.
2️⃣2️⃣ million: The number of people projected to face extreme hunger in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya due to drought.
“There is still no end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must get the resources needed to save lives and stop people plunging into catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation”.
UN Humanitarian Coordinator Martin Griffiths warned on Friday that time is running out for people in the country.
More than seven million people there, nearly half the population, are acutely food insecure, and 213,000 are already facing famine-like conditions.
