Children's famine declared in Somalia

20 July 2011

Today the UN has officially upped the emergency status of two areas of southern Somalia, the Bakool and Lower Shabelle regions, declaring them to be ‘in famine'. The crisis has been dubbed the ‘Children's Famine' due to the vast numbers of children who are suffering, hit hardest by the lack of food and water.

More than 166,000 Somalis have fled the country this year to avoid drought and conflict.

ACT/NCA/Laurie McGregor

Habiba is typical. She walked 200km (125 miles) with her five children, from a village near Buurhakaba city in south-west Somalia to the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. But the youngest ones – aged two years and five years – died on the way. She had to abandon their bodies along the roadside because she was too weak to dig graves.

Dylan Mathews, Y Care International’s International Programmes Director, warned: ”This situation is as bad as we’ve seen for a generation – we need to respond now but there is so much that needs to be done and time is running out. But with enough funding directed at the right places we can help reverse this situation – and we have the links on the ground to make that happen.”

News feature: focusing on livestock is stopping children starve

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