MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th October, 2022) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday expressed concern about malnutrition among children in Somalia, which could lead to an unprecedented numbers of child deaths.
"Today in Somalia, every single minute of every single day, a child is admitted to a health facility for treatment of severe acute malnutrition. The latest admission rates from August show 44,000 children admitted with severe acute malnutrition. That is a child per minute," UNICEF spokesman James Elder said.
Elder said that children suffering from severe malnutrition are 11 times more likely to die from diarrhea and measles than children receiving good nutrition. The spokesman added that many thousands of children do not receive the support they need due to terrorism and threats against humanitarian workers, which complicates the process of providing humanitarian aid.
The spokesman also noted that there are still a lot of funding challenges and called on the international community to provide more aid.
"Whilst substantial funds have come in over the past months - thanks to USAID, the UK Government, and the European Commission - long-term funding is part of the critical change needed to prevent famine from happening, again, and again. For instance, UNICEF's three-year appeal to help families and their communities build resilience in the Horn of Africa region is currently just 3 per cent funded," Elder added.
On October 14, the international charity, Oxfam, reported that the situation in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan is deteriorating very quickly amid drought, regional conflicts, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and rising prices due to the conflict in Ukraine, adding that 6 million children across the four countries are facing malnutrition.
