Somalia Humanitarian Key Messages ... I. Key Messages. 1. ... from food security, remains polio-free and resilience of t
Somalia Humanitarian Key Messages Authorized by the Humanitarian Coordinator
May 2014 • Issue # 1
I. Key Messages 1. Somalia’s extremely fragile humanitarian situation is at risk of sliding back into crisis. Early warnings alert that the food security situation is likely to worsen due to the combination of the delayed April-June rains, a disrupted planting season, an Al Shabaab blockade of supply routes and consequent rising food prices. The next two months are critical if the situation is to be reversed. 2. The early warnings are issued against a backdrop of an ongoing military offensive and persistent insecurity, in which some 857,000 people, most of them displaced, need urgent assistance at least through June. Two million Somalis are in food security “stress”, struggling to meet their own minimal food requirements. 3. Somalia’s basic humanitarian indicators are shocking: The country has one of the world’s highest child malnutrition and mortality rates. One in 18 women dies in childbirth. Malnutrition rates are above emergency thresholds for more than 1 million displaced people. Only 30 per cent of people have access to safe water. Yet, levels which are considered alarming and unacceptable in other countries tend to be regarded as acceptable in Somalia. 4. Safe and sustained access is essential to gain clarity on the needs of masses of people in southern and central Somalia and to reach groups, such as half a million children in inaccessible areas who have not been vaccinated. Somalia remains one of the most hostile environments in the world to deliver humanitarian assistance. Aid workers need safe space to operate and the means to deliver assistance. 5. Aid agencies are stymied in their response due to lack of funding. The Consolidated Appeal remains woefully underfunded, with only 15 per cent, or $143 million, funded of the $933 million requested, half of the resources normally received at this point in the year. Nearly all humanitarian agencies are facing significant resource gaps for 2014 and some life-saving programmes, such as primary health care for 3 million, many of them women and children, could shut down in a matter of weeks due to lack of funds. 6. Conditions today are disturbingly similar to the pre-famine period in 2010 when the combination of reducing of access, declining funds and a few failed rainy seasons led to Somalia's a devastating crisis. Early warnings must trigger early action. The momentum of assistance needs to be sustained in order to ensure Somalia moves towards and not away from food security, remains polio-free and resilience of the population is supported. This requires both access and resources. Contact details: Dawn Blalock Goodwin, Head of RC/HC Communications,
[email protected], +254-734-210102
