UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- More than 213,000 people in drought-ravaged Somalia suffer from catastrophic food insecurity, a UN spokesman said on Friday.
This is the first time since 2017 that food insecurity has reached the catastrophic level, said Stephane Dujarric, chief spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. The ranking follows the worst drought in 40 years.
"Our humanitarian colleagues warn that the country is on the brink of a catastrophe with hundreds of thousands of people one step away from starvation and famine," said Dujarric.
"Our humanitarian colleagues note that 7.1 million people, that is 45 percent of the population, are acutely food insecure and some 6.4 million men, women and children -- all Somalis -- lack access to safe water and sanitation," the spokesman added.
He said that since January, at least 500 children have died due to undernutrition and disease in Somalia. An estimated 1.5 million children under 5 years of age are acutely malnourished.
"As humanitarians focus on saving lives and averting famine, there is a critical need to invest in livelihoods, resilience, infrastructure development, climate adaptation and durable solutions for Somalia," Dujarric said.
Across Somalia, northern Kenya, and southern and eastern Ethiopia, more than 21 million people are facing high levels of food insecurity, following four consecutive failed rainy seasons, he said. "The likely failure of a fifth one would be catastrophic."
The humanitarian response continues to scale up to avert the worst, Dujarric said. More than 4 million people received assistance from January to June, including food, water, sanitation and hygiene support.
He said that the 1.5 billion U.S. dollar Somalia Humanitarian Appeal Plan is 73 percent funded. "We thank our donors for their generosity." ■
