U.N. says 730 children have died in Somalia nutrition centres

 

Somali displaced girl Sadia Ali, 8, drinks water from a tap at the Kaxareey camp for the internally displaced people in Dollow, Gedo region of Somalia May 24, 2022. Picture taken May 24, 2022. REUTERS/Feisal Omar/File Photo

The United Nations agency for children (UNICEF) said on Tuesday that hundreds of children had died in nutrition centers around Somalia, a day after the organization issued a warning that famine will strike some areas of the nation in the coming months.

 

An official in one Somali province reported starving families traveling great distances while carrying children to flee the drought and Al Shabaab insurgents' attacks. Along the process, a few kids passed away.

 

The Horn of Africa is experiencing its fifth unsuccessful rainy season in a row. More than 25,000 people perished in a famine in Somalia in 2011, most of them children.

 

"Some 730 children have been reported to have died in food and nutrition centres across the country between January and July this year but the numbers could be more as many deaths go unreported," UNICEF Somalia representative Wafaa Saeed told a Geneva news briefing.

 

In addition to treating children with severe acute malnutrition, these facilities also treat children who have measles, cholera, or malaria and provide an overview of the condition nationwide.

 

In recent months, 210 individuals have died from malnutrition, according to Ahmed Shire, the information minister for the state of Glamudug, which is located north of the capital Mogadishu.

 

According to Reuters "Al Shabaab burnt five towns completely, burning even the wells to ashes."

"These people were struggling with the drought that killed half of their animals. Al Shabaab looted the remaining animals."

 

According to Shire, some 1,000 families—each with at least seven children—fled the area on foot but were unable to be saved due to the danger of attacks.

 

An Islamist organization with ties to al Qaeda called al Shabaab has been attacking civilian and military targets for more than ten years.

 

With over 13,000 suspected measles cases reported in recent months, 78% of which were children under the age of five, UNICEF reported that illness outbreaks among youngsters were on the rise.

 

The manager of nine refugee camps outside of Mogadishu, Faduma Abdiqadir Warsame, reported that her staff had buried 115 children and old persons in the previous three months.

 

"The thousands of families who remain are just skeletons. If not immediately helped they will follow suit," she said, adding that most people were too poor to afford a proper burial.

 

"Children are buried like garbage in the alleys and along the walls," she said.

 

Financial aid for Somalia has increased recently and the United Nations' $1.46 billion appeal is now 67% funded. But aid officials warned that more was needed.

 

"We are going to be witnessing the death of children on an unimaginable scale if we don’t act fast," said Audrey Crawford, Somalia's country director at the Danish Refugee Council.