Key Overall Developments Famine Is Declared in Parts of Southern
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OCHA – Coordination Saves Lives Issue # 29 15‐22 July 2011 Key Overall Developments Famine is declared in parts of southern Somalia The drought situation in the southern regions has now deteriorated to famine in Lower Shabelle and the southern Bakool region. In the last few months, tens of thousands of people have died as a result of causes related to malnutrition; the majority of them are children. On 20 July, the Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia, Mark Bowden, issued a press statement saying, “If we don’t act now, famine will spread to all other eight regions of southern Somalia within the next two month, due to poor harvests and infectious disease outbreak.” He also added that every day of delay in assistance is literally a matter of life and death for children and their families in the famine affected areas, calling for support for more resources of roughly US$300 million in the next two months. Across the country, 3.7 million people, nearly half the Somali population, are now in crisis. Of these, the majority, 2.8 million are in the eight southern regions. Famine is declared when acute malnutrition rates among children exceed 30 per cent, more than 2 people in 10,000 die per day and when people are not able to access food and other basic necessities. Displacement More people continue to be displaced from Bay, Bakool and the Shabelle regions due the drought and famine situation moving into Mogadishu and neighbouring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia. At least 100,000 have been registered in Kenya while 78,000 have been received in Ethiopia since the beginning of the year. UNHCR says that those arriving are either pastoralists or farmers fleeing due to the persistent drought, as well as violence that forced them to abandon their farmlands and livestock. In Mogadishu, UNHCR says an average 1,000 people are arriving every day due to the drought/famine situation bringing the total number to 20, 800 people since 1 July. The majority of the IDPs are coming from Lower Shabelle districts of Qoryooley and Kurtunwaarey while others are coming from as far as Xudur and Qansax Dheere in Bakool and Bay regions, among other districts. Response to the on‐going crisis in the south Food Assistance: Five new wet feeding sites benefiting 9,000 people per day have been opened in Banadir (Banadir hospital and Hama Weyne district), Lower Shabelle (Kurtunwaarey and Bulo Mareer) and Gedo (Bard era) regions, responding to the nutritional emergency situation by international NGO Direct Aid. The NGO plans to set up five new Supplementary Feeding centres to reach 5,000 beneficiaries in Bard era in Gedo, Baraawe in Lower Shabelle and Hodan district in Mogadishu. During the reporting week, UNICEF and partners also distributed high energy/protein biscuits to 34,200 people in Mogadishu WFP is planning to distribute 12 metric tons of high energy biscuits in border areas of Gedo and Lower Juba regions. In addition, 90 metric tons of Ready‐to‐Use therapeutic food (RUSF) will be flown into Mogadishu in the coming days to support the scale up support to the IDPs. Another 40,000 people are also targeted for food assistance along the Afgooye Corridor. This week, WFP cooperation partners started screening to target up to 175,000 beneficiaries with blanket supplementary feeding and complementary general feeding distributions in Ceel Waaq, Doolow, Belet Xaawo and Luuq districts in Gedo by the first week of August. Nutrition: In July, UNICEF airlifted, shipped and transported over 900 metric tons of nutrition supplies and medicines into south Somalia, to treat a total of 80,300 malnourished children (16,700 severely malnourished and 63,700 moderately malnourished) through existing nutrition centres. The supplies were sent to Baidoa in Bay, Mogadishu, Shabelle, Hiraan, Galgaduud, Mudug, Bakool and Juba regions. The mission of OCHA is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. Celebrating 20 years of coordinated humanitarian action UNOCHA Somalia, Ngecha Rd. (off Lower Kabete Rd). P.O Box 28832, 00200, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: +254 20 4002400 Website: http://ochaonline.un.org/Somalia The International NGO GTZ distributed 550 cartons of plumpy doz to malnourished children as well as women. Another consignment of 3,000 cartons of CSB will be distributed in the coming days in Qansax Dheere, Bay region, through a local partner. This is an area where a huge number of the displaced are pitching tent awaiting to cross into Ethiopia to the refugee camps. Health: On 22 July, the Child Health Days campaign providing vitamin A and de‐worming started in eight districts of Mogadishu targeting 40,000 children under 5 years of age and 46,000 women of child bearing age. A similar campaign supported by WHO and UNICEF will be conducted in six regions of Gedo region targeting 55,000 children and 72,500 women in the coming days. WHO is facilitating response activities including active disease surveillance and case management and prevention activities is ongoing in the districts of Wanla Weyne and Awdhegle districts of Lower Shabelle region, following an Acute Watery Diarrhea outbreak in parts of the region. Shelter and Non‐Food Items (NFIs): This week, UNICEF distributed family relief kits to 5,700 IDP families (34,200 people) in Mogadishu. The NFI kits consist of plastic sheets, mosquito nets, jerry cans, water carriers. On July 20, UNHCR and NRC distributed 2,500 NFI kits in Dharkenley district in Mogadishu. In total, UNHCR and partners have distributed 11,800 NFI kits benefiting 70,800 people in southern regions of Bay, Gedo, Lower Juba, Lower Shabelle and Banadir since 1 July. Education: Islamic Relief in Afgooye area reported an increase in total enrolment of students due to influx of new IDPs. There are 1,696 new IDP students (878 female and 818 male) enrolled in 30 schools supported by Islamic Relief. Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH): The WASH partners are conducting additional sanitation and well chlorination activities in Mogadishu and the Afgooye Corridor to cover about 12,000 new IDP arrivals. Other Response Health In Somaliland, the Child Health Days campaign which kicked off on 12 July is on‐going and is targeting 450,000 children and 520,000 women of children bearing age. A similar campaign also started on 17 July in Puntland and is expected to reach 240,000 children and 260,000 women. Education The education cluster partner in Cabudwaaq reported an increase of 173 household (about 820 individuals) in the six IDP camps in the area. The only assistance being offered in these camps is education in Save the Children supported schools where at total of 1,600 students (1,000 male and 600 female) are enrolled. Efforts are underway to assess whether the current education resources in place are adequate to manage the influx of IDPs when schools reopen at the end of August. There are major humanitarian gaps in the areas of food, water, NFI and healthcare. Protection During the reporting week, the Gender Based Violence (GBV) Working Group in Gaalkacyo conducted a rapid assessment on sexual violence in three IDP settlements reaching 1,180 females and 820 males. The findings of the assessments will inform the GBV responses in Gaalkacyo. Shelter and Non‐Food Items (NFIs) On July 14, UNHCR and partners distributed 450 shelter kits to fire‐affected households in Bulo Mingis settlement in Bossaso and Shabelle settlement in Garowe. Contact: For further information in English contact Rita Maingi on +254 734 800 120 – [email protected] and in Somalia contact Abdi Yussuf Noor on +254 734 210 103 – [email protected] The mission of OCHA is to mobilize and coordinate effective and principled humanitarian action in partnership with national and international actors. Celebrating 20 years of coordinated humanitarian action UNOCHA Somalia, Ngecha Rd. (off Lower Kabete Rd). P.O Box 28832, 00200, Nairobi, Kenya. Tel: +254 20 4002400 Website: http://ochaonline.un.org/Somalia .