Somalia is on the verge of a “repeat of the 2011 famine,” as livestock die in droves and crops wilt in the region’s worst drought in 40 years.
Three years of little or no rain have wreaked havoc on harvests and caused major food and water shortages across the country, driving up prices even before the war in Ukraine, dubbed the “breadbasket of Europe,” threw markets into chaos.
Global food prices have reached a new high, according to figures from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) March food price index, which rose by 34% year on year, the fastest rate in 14 years.
This could exacerbate Somalia’s already dire situation, as the country imports nearly all of its wheat from Russia and Ukraine.
“We face a real risk of a repeat of the 2011 famine situation, which killed a quarter of a million people, half of whom were children,” said Mohamed Ahmed, Save the Children’s director of program operations in Somalia. “If we don’t act now, this will become a reality.”
According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification system (IPC), 4.1 million Somalis, or about a quarter of the country’s population, are suffering from severe hunger.
Acute malnutrition affects roughly 44% of children under the age of five, or 1.4 million children, and aid agencies have warned that the situation will “get worse before it gets better,” according to The Telegraph.
“Health facilities, particularly in rural areas, are seeing a noticeable increase in admissions for malnutrition – particularly acute malnutrition,” said Anna Coffin, the head of humanitarian aid organization Medair Somalia.
“Acute watery diarrhoea or suspected cholera is another thing we keep an eye on.” The figures are rising in some places, which is usually a sign that people are relying on lower-quality water sources as rivers dry up,” she added.
Meanwhile, approximately 700,000 people have been displaced as a result of being forced to flee their homes in search of food and water, and “hundreds of thousands” of livestock have died from thirst and starvation.