March 20th 2023

Somalia drought: UN estimates 43,000 deaths last year as 500,000 children likely to be malnourished

by Sky News

The figure, released by the World Health Organisation and the United Nations children's agency, is the first official death toll announced in a drought which has affected much of the country.

Despite the death toll, the UN will not make a formal famine declaration. This applies when data shows more than a fifth of households have extreme food gaps, 30% of children are acutely malnourished and more than two people out of 10,000 are dying every day.

The UN and its partners describe the situation as "extremely critical" though, with more than six million people hungry in the country alone.

A quarter of a million people died in Somalia during the 2011 famine - now some humanitarian and climate officials are warning that trends for this year are even worse than 12 years ago.

Further compounding the current crisis is Somalia's ongoing battle with thousands of al Shabab fighters - al Qaida's East Africa affiliate.

Some 3.8 million people - a record high - have been displaced, according to the UN migration agency.

TO RECEIVE NEWS NOTIFICATIONS VIA WHATS APP PLEASE SAVE OUR NUMBER AND SEND US A MESSAGE AT 7584896261 AND WE WILL ADD YOU TO OUR LIST