Drought displaces thousands of people in Somalia: UN

He said that in Somalia, 4.5 million people are affected, and about 670,000 fled their homes. In some of the worst affected areas, water prices spiked at a 72 percent increase over November 2021.

News Keydmedia Online
9 March 2022

UNITED NATIONS -- The Ethiopia-Somalia drought has uprooted 845,000 people from their homes and killed more than 1.5 million head of livestock in Ethiopia alone, a UN spokesman said on Tuesday.

We and our (humanitarian) partners are scaling up assistance to people affected by the drought and have reached more than 2.7 million people with food assistance Ethiopia, said Stephane Dujarric, the chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Some 175,000 people have now been displaced from their homes.

More than 120 metric tons of medicine and other supplies were dispatched last month to the drought-affected areas of Ethiopia, Dujarric said. Humanitarians are distributing therapeutic food to treat malnourished children.

He said that in Somalia, 4.5 million people are affected, and about 670,000 fled their homes. In some of the worst affected areas, water prices spiked at a 72 percent increase over November 2021.

The spokesman said nearly half of the children under 5 years of age, more than 1.4 million children, are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition due to the continuing drought.

Despite support from donors and others, additional funding is urgently needed since needs are expected to further increase, he said.

The Humanitarian Response Plan for Somalia, seeking nearly 1.5 billion U.S. dollars to help 5.5 million of the most vulnerable Somalis, is only 3.3 percent funded.