Poor rains during rainy seasons from April-June and October-December has led to drought conditions in most parts of Somalia, eroding gains made since the 2011 famine, worsening food insecurity in the country. Children remain the most vulnerable and at high risk of malnutrition due to inadequate food and nutrition. Malnutrition levels are alarming with 320,000 children under-5 acutely malnourished and over 50,000 are severely malnourished. Children’s education is also severely disrupted as families move from one location to another in search of food and water.
In addition to food insecure population, the rapid increase of affected population is very concerning-more than 1.1 million people cannot meet their daily food, while another 3.9 million Somalis require livelihood support. The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has reached 5 million in total, more than 40% of the population. Access to sufficient safe drinking water has become a challenge for drought affected
World Vision will make every effort to alleviate immediate human suffering and strengthen the resilience and self-recovery capacity of drought-affected communities throughout the country. Urgent and concerted response is needed to help save lives of the most vulnerable children in Somalia at this critical time.