UN calls to scale up aid for Somalia to counter ‘catastrophic’ famine

Africa, News December 15, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

United Nations and other humanitarian experts say that if aid is not scaled up in time, the east African nation of Somalia can plunge into catastrophic famines by April and July 2023.

With most of the world’s major powers spending billions on weapon upgrades while striving to modernize their arsenals by increasing their military budgets, millions of Somalians are on a brink of a catastrophic famine due to food insecurity, droughts, and floods caused by climate change.

According to a UN report, Somalia has so far dodged a famine by narrow margins, however, if humanitarian aid is not scaled up right now, the African nation would face catastrophic famines next year.

The report said that more than 8 million people from Somalia need “an unprecedented level of need” after five consecutive failed rainy seasons and “exceptionally high” food prices. The report does not predict that there is a direct threat of famine at this time “in large part thanks to the response of humanitarian organizations and local communities.” But warns that it “does not mean that people are not experiencing catastrophic food shortages.”

The spokesperson of the UN humanitarian organization OCHA presented the report on December 13, 2022, as he said that the humanitarian aid has “kept famine outside the door, but nobody knows for how much longer.”

The report indicated surging numbers of people at the highest level on the UN’s five-scale food insecurity classification, known as the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification or IPC. This means that millions of people have dangerously little access to food and could face starvation. Jens Laerke called on countries “to step up and help the humanitarian organizations continue the very important and truly life-saving work” in Somalia.

*^{United Nations personnel look on as a worker serving food at a camp in Hodan district in Mogadishu, Somalia. (Image Credit: Feisal Omar/Reuters)}*

Earlier this year, several food security experts warned that Somalia would face severe famines if there was no increase in international humanitarian aid for the drought-stricken country. Humanitarian workers say the war in Ukraine has diverted funding and the attention of several donors which has intensified the vulnerability even more.

If the situation progresses at current rates, Somalia’s IPC is expected to more than triple from 214,000 to 727,000 as drought, violence, and displacement continue to threaten people’s lives and livelihoods, according to the UN.

If Somalia goes into famine as predicted by the UN report, it means that more than one-fifth of Somalian households would have extreme food shortages, more than 30 percent of children would face severe malnourishment, and two out of every 10000 people would be dying of hunger every day.