UN: More than one million Somali children are at risk of malnutrition due to recent flooding

By The Star Staff Writer

MOGADISHU – The UN children’s agency on Friday warned that more than one million Somali children are at risk of acute malnutrition this year due to the flooding that displaced hundreds of thousands of people across the nation.

While Gu’ rains signaled the end of the drought for some areas in the Horn of Africa nation, they also increased the risks faced by acutely malnourished children, particularly the displaced ones, Christophe Boulierac, spokesman for the United Naitons Children’s Fund, told reporters in Geneva.

He said the flooding has damaged water points, sanitation facilities and spiked the risk of measles outbreak, acute watery diarrhea and cholera cases in the country.

Due to the flooding, Boulierac said, 22 nutrition centers treating more than 6,000 acutely malnourished children in areas hosting internally displaced people were shut down.

“About half of children under 5 – more than 1.25 million – are expected to be acutely malnourished this year,” said Boulierac. “That includes up to 232,000 children who will suffer the harshest form of malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition (SAM), which requires specialized lifesaving care.”

Somalia has experienced four consecutive poor rainy seasons that nearly brought the country to the brink of famine. But since March, the country has received near-record rainfall, which the UNICEF says is not ending the malnutrition crisis among the nation’s children.

The intensity of the current flooding started in April and has so far displaced about 230,000 people, more than half of whom are estimated to be children, said Boulierac.

This figure adds to the already 2.6 million people displaced by drought and conflict in the country who’re living in shelters made of twig and tarp and in congested and unsanitary conditions that spread disease quickly.

Boulierac said children displaced from their homes are most likely to be malnourished.

“Even before the floods,” Boulierac said, “acute malnutrition rates among displaced children ranged from the emergency threshold of 15 percent to 21 per cent, as compared to an average of 13.8 per cent of Somali children.”

The agency has so far this year treated more than 88,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, said Boulierac, noting that it’s facing a funding gap of 110.3 million, or 71 per cent, of its appeal this year of 154.9 million, of whom only 24.3 million was received.

“The rains spread diseases that are particularly deadly for malnourished children with exhausted, fragile immune systems,” Boulierac said. “While we haven’t seen a spike yet, the risk of further outbreaks is high and compounded by flooding.”

The agency said in March that since the start of the year, more than 2,800 cases of suspected measles have been reported in the country, with Bay, Banadir and Mudug being the most affected regions. In 2017, it said, there were more than 23,000 suspected cases of measles – six times as many as in 2016 – with the vast majority (83 per cent) affecting children under 10.

In March, the World Health Organization and UNICEF started a nationwide anti-measles campaign to vaccinate more than 4.7 million children whose ages were between six months and 10 years.