Somalia’s special envoy for drought response, Abdirahman Abdishakur, accompanied by the humanitarian coordinator for Somalia Adam Abdelmoula and other officials from the OCHA office, visited Dolow district in the Gedo region on Monday.
The envoy listened to reports on the drought situation in the Gedo area, notably in the Dolow district in southern Somalia, from regional and district administrations. They then visited IDP camps in and around the city, such as Kabaso, where most residents are children, women, and the elderly who require immediate assistance and support.
The United Nations humanitarian coordinator for the Horn of Africa country called for a major scale-up in resources to prevent famine.
“The humanitarian situation in Somalia continues to deteriorate rapidly,” said Adam Abdelmoula, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia. “Already, 1.5 million children below the age of five are malnourished, and we expect that 356,000 of these may not survive through the end of September this year. Acute malnutrition is about to increase unless we scale up our response plan in a major way.”
Somalia has suffered through four unprecedented and consecutive failed rainy seasons, something that had never happened in the country’s history. Today, it faces a potential fifth.
“Already half of the population, 7.1 million Somalis, are in need of food assistance,” said the top humanitarian official. “If the fifth rainy season fails, this number will increase significantly.”
It is the envoy’s third visit to the country’s regions to assess the humanitarian situation following visits to Baidoa and Bulo Burde.
