UN agencies scale up aid operations in drought-hit Somalia

Two UN agencies said on Monday they have ramped up efforts to help communities cope with a severe drought exacerbated by El Niño effects in Somaliland and Puntland in northern Somalia.

The UN World Food Program (WFP) and UNICEF also warned that thousands of children are at risk of dropping out of school due to the drought.

"Our concerted efforts are needed now to save the lives of tens of thousands of children and their families. Any delay from the international community will put their lives further at risk of hunger and disease," UNICEF Representative for Somalia Steven Lauwerier said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

The two UN agencies have adopted a unified response to halt the deteriorating food insecurity and rising malnutrition in the affected areas, by providing an integrated package of life-saving humanitarian assistance.

"This includes food assistance, nutrition programs, and health services, as well as support to help communities access safe water and improve sanitation and hygiene conditions," the statement said.

The UN agencies said they are focusing on keeping children in schools and protecting them from family separation, violence and abuse amid rising school dropouts and forced migration.

"The communities have lived through four successive poor rainy seasons. Their ability to cope with the drought has been stretched to the limit," said Lauwerier.

The two agencies are also working together to keep children and teachers in schools, and prevent exposure of children to the risks of family separation, early marriage, child labour and abuse.

"This is particularly pertinent as families continue to be forced into migration, in search of food, aid, and pasture for their livestock," the statement said.

The UN has appealed for 105 million U.S. dollars to provide humanitarian and livelihood assistance to some 1.7 million people, most of them pastoralists and agro-pastoralists who make up three quarters of the population in Somaliland and Puntland.

According to the UN, some 385,000 need immediate assistance, while another 1.3 million are on the brink of slipping into a deeper crisis if rains continue to fail and aid is too slow to come.

The agencies said malnutrition-related deaths have been reported in areas such as Awdal region bordering Ethiopia in addition to increased malnutrition cases and enrollment in nutrition programs in the most affected areas.

"The world must recognize that we can save lives if we act in time. It is absolutely critical that we are able to sustain assistance to the people affected by this crisis, so we can stem the damage of undernutrition for mothers and children before it has lifelong consequences,"Bukera added.

WFP's emergency response has so far provided food assistance and nutrition support for 147,000 vulnerable people in the areas that are worst affected by the drought. Endit