UNICEF: 10 million children suffer from dire drought in Africa

UNICEF official Abdul Aziz Mohammed Basaad said children could die in devastating numbers unless urgent support is provided as famine is around the corner.

News Keydmedia Online
23 August 2022

MOGADISHU, Somalia - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) said on Monday that at least 10 million children suffer from dire drought across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, the number increased by 40 percent over the past two months.

UNICEF official Abdul Aziz Mohammed Basaad said children could die in devastating numbers unless urgent support is provided as famine is around the corner.

The number of children facing severe starvation and thirst due to drought across the Horn of Africa rose from 7.25 million in February to at least 10 million in April, according to UNICEF. More than 1.7 million children from Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia suffering from severe acute malnutrition need medical treatment at this point. If no rain falls in these areas within weeks, the number could rise to two million.

"Across the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, millions of children are just one disease away from catastrophe," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

The UNICEF had previously called for a $119-million emergency fundraising. The number rose to $250 million with the intensification of the drought, but only 25 percent has been raised so far.

The Horn of Africa is under the most serious drought in 40 years. As a result of lack of rainfall for four consecutive years, it has led to total crop failure and livestock deaths, and millions of people were forced to leave their homes with malnutrition and the risk of water-borne diseases.

Humanitarian help from national communities and donors is still urgently needed in these areas to ease the current situation across the Horn of Africa. This year China offered emergency food aid to countries from the Horn of Africa including wheat, flour, and cooking oil to help break the crisis.

The Horn of Africa lies in east Africa, including Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda. Being the most impoverished region in the world, the Horn of Africa is afflicted by regional conflicts and seasonal drought for years.