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- Climate change and conflict are some of the major drivers of famine in Somalia.
- Since August, about 44 000 children were admitted to healthcare facilities for severe acute malnutrition, which works out to one child per minute.
- The US has sanctioned four key leaders of Al-Shabaab, one of Al-Qaeda's most dangerous affiliates.
As you read this, a child in Somalia is being admitted to a hospital or healthcare facility for severe malnutrition. And the United Nations (UN) has warned that Somalia is on the brink of a child malnutrition tragedy at a scale not seen in decades.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), malnutrition mainly affects children younger than five years old in low-income and middle-income countries.
The condition includes but is not limited to stunting, wasting and kwashiorkor (protein malnutrition), of which severe wasting and kwashiorkor are commonly referred to as severe or acute malnutrition.
In Somalia, severe malnutrition is due to chronic poverty and poor living conditions with pervasive deficits in sanitation and hygiene.
READ | Child malnutrition soars in central Somalia area on verge of famine
The country also has a high prevalence of infectious diseases and climate change-induced environmental impacts, food insecurity, poor maternal and foetal nutritional status, and suboptimal nutritional intake in infancy and early childhood.
Since August, the situation has worsened.
"Today in Somalia, every single minute of every single day, a child is admitted to a health facility for treatment of severe acute malnutrition. The latest admission rates from August show 44 000 children admitted with severe acute malnutrition. That is a child per minute," said United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) spokesperson James Elder during a virtual media briefing at the UN Office in Geneva, Switzerland, on Tuesday.
Survival odds were stacked against vulnerable children in Somalia, and in a few months, it could reach levels never seen before, Elder said.
He said:
But the statistics at hand are for children who manage to get access to healthcare in a country where the majority do not get that far because of the volatile situation in the country due to conflict.
"And, of course, the children behind this staggering, appalling statistic are those who actually make it to a treatment centre. In a country where access for the most vulnerable is continually hampered by terrorism and threats to aid workers, we fear many thousands more children are not getting the support they need," he said.
This week, the United States announced that it had imposed sanctions on key leaders of Al-Shabaab, one of Al-Qaeda's most dangerous affiliates, as part of the US' fight against terrorism.
READ | 'Children are already dying': Somalia weeks from catastrophic famine, aid agencies warn
Mohamed Mire – a senior Al-Shabaab leader responsible for the group's strategic decision-making and who leads its interior wing overseeing many of the group's activities in Somalia – is the most prominent target.
It is hoped that the US sanctions will assist aid workers to "find and treat" – a method of going into hard-to-access areas to provide healthcare.
So far this year, only 300 000 children have been treated for severe malnutrition.
Save the Children, a United Kingdom aid agency, estimates that at least 1.5 million Somali children under five are acutely malnourished.
The News24 Africa Desk is supported by the Hanns Seidel Foundation. The stories produced through the Africa Desk and the opinions and statements that may be contained herein do not reflect those of the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
