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UN set to launch humanitarian response plan for Somalia

Xinhua, January 12, 2017 Adjust font size:

The UN agencies working in Somalia said Thursday they will next week launch the 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan which outlines the humanitarian situation and priorities for response throughout the country.

A statement from the UN Office for Coordinating of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the humanitarian situation in Somalia remains among the most complex in the world.

"Worsening drought conditions across the country have left hundreds of thousands of Somalis facing severe food and water shortages," OCHA said. The Plan will be launched in Mogadishu on Tuesday next week.

The newly developed Plan for Somalia for 2017 reflects a commitment by aid agencies to better support Somalis in addressing the extensive humanitarian needs throughout the country.

Some 5 million people (40 percent of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance while more than 1.1 million of these are in "crisis" and "emergency'.

Developed within the framework of the three-year humanitarian strategy for Somalia for 2016-2018, the response plan covering 12 months aim to save lives, ensure the protection of the most vulnerable, strengthen resilience, support the provision of basic services and enable durable solutions through a coordinated, comprehensive and multi-sectoral approach.

Throughout the implementation of this plan, the humanitarian community will embed the principle of the centrality of protection by means of a humanitarian response to protect the most vulnerable groups, OCHA said.

According to the UN, nearly 1.1 million Somalis are internally displaced. More than 320,000 children under the age of five years, or one in eight, are currently estimated to be acutely malnourished and are need of urgent nutrition support.

"Of these, 50,000 children are severely malnourished and far more vulnerable than any other group. Widespread human rights violations and continued insecurity are increasing protection risks, driving displacement and weakening the already depleted resilience of the most vulnerable," OCHA said. Endit