1.4 million Children hungry in Somalia
In a statement made by UNICEF, 1.4 million children in Somalia are suffering from inadequate nutrition, and 275,000 children may die from hunger this year if no immediate action is taken.
Somali, one of the poorest countries in the world, is experiencing a new starvation crisis caused by the drought. The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, explained that 1.4 million children in Africa are suffering from overfeeding, which is 50 percent higher than at the end of last year.
According to UNICEF, 275,000 children are at risk of life if measures are not taken. The UNICEF spokesman Marixe Mercado said that children are nine times more likely to lose their lives due to cholera, measles and diarrhea.
In a statement to journalists in Geneva, Mercado said children who suffer from excessive nutrition can die within a few hours if they get caught in these diseases.
According to the United Nations World Food Program, in Somalia where civil war continues for 25 years, since 2011, 260 thousand people lost their lives in the last big hunger crisis. At least half of the deceased were under five years old. Since last November in Somalia due to severe drought and food insufficiency, 615 thousand people have left the regions they live in.
UNICEF Somali Representative Steven Lauwerier said that this year, 56,000 Somalia children who were suffering from excessive nutrition were treated so far. “We have to do much faster and much more to save more people's lives,” UNICEF representative said in response to the rapidly increasing negative data.
Six million people are in need of assistance in Somalia, which has an 11 million population struggling for two years with drought. (Mustafa Kaynak - ILKHA)