More Than 58,000 Somalia Kids Starving: UN
KABUL: (MEP) The United Nations warned on Monday that more than 58,000 children in Somalia will starve to death if urgent support does not reach in the impoverished country.
“Nearly 305,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished” said UN aid chief for Somalia Peter de Clercq, adding that they urgently need medical, food, and other humanitarian support.
“The level of malnutrition, especially among children, is of serious concern, “We estimate that 58,300 children face death if they are not treated.”
The grim assessment, based on the latest data collected by the UN, comes just over four years since intense drought and war sparked a famine killing more than a quarter of a million people.
Around one million people are struggling every day to meet their food needs, according to the UN.
“4.7 million People of Somalia, stand in need of humanitarian aid” de Chercq added.
Floods and failed rains caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon have sparked a dramatic rise in the number of people going hungry in large parts of Africa.
The UN has also appealed for urgent support and humanitarian assistance. The world body is calling for USD 885 million in aid to assist people in conflict- and disaster-affected regions.
