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Over 343,000 children in Somalia to face acute malnutrition: UN

Xinhua, September 1, 2015 Adjust font size:

The number of acutely and severely malnourished children in Somalia is likely to increase to 343,400 and 63,400 respectively through the end of the year, a UN-backed food security assessment says.

Widespread acute malnutrition persists across Somalia and large numbers of people will be acutely food insecure through December, according to the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU) managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

The report released in Nairobi on Tuesday attributes the situation to below average cereal harvests in crop dependent areas, poor rainfall in part of the northern region, trade disruption in some southern urban areas where Al-Shabaab militants are active, and new and continued population displacement.

The situation is likely to be exacerbated by heavy rains and possible flooding in the October to December rainy season, the report said.

An estimated 214,700 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, 39,700 of them severely malnourished, according to nutrition surveys conducted from May to July.

"The severely malnourished face a high risk of morbidity and death," said the report.

Somalia is struggling to rebound from decades of civil conflicts. The number of those in need of humanitarian assistance stands at around 3 million. Endit