According to the World Health Organization, if the international community does not intervene quickly to stop the country from devolving into famine, hundreds of thousands of people in Somalia's drought-stricken country may perish.
According to the U.N. health agency, there is extreme hunger in Somalia that has not been witnessed since the famine that claimed more than a quarter million lives, half of them being children, in 2011.
Mamunur Rahman Malik, the WHO representative in Somalia, claimed millions of people go to bed hungry every night while speaking from the country's capital, Mogadishu. He stated that 1.8 million youngsters, or 50 percent of the nation's children, suffer from acute severe malnutrition, and warned that if they do not receive immediate medical attention, 50 percent of these children may die.
“I have seen children dying almost every hour in some of the health centers that I visited,” he said. “Many of them have traveled miles after miles in search of food and water and their weak bodies just could not make it that last mile.”
The WHO reports one out of every 10 children in the country is visiting health centers with diseases that are largely preventable.
In addition, Malik said one out of every seven Somali children is missing out on life-saving vaccines against killer diseases such as measles, diarrheal diseases, cholera, and acute respiratory infections. This, because they and their families are forced to leave their homes in search of food.
“We have seen deaths and diseases thrive when hunger and food crises are prolonged,” he said. “I have visited a number of health centers which I have seen with my own eyes how health workers are struggling to deal with the increased influx of children suffering.… In one instance, as many as 100 children with severe diseases needed to be cared for by only one or two health workers in very difficult working conditions.”
Malik said the WHO is working hard to prevent this dire situation from getting worse. He noted the agency is providing health care in hard-to-reach areas and delivering essential medication and other services for nearly three million people.
But he said this is not enough given the magnitude of the crisis. He warned many more people will die from disease than from hunger and malnutrition combined unless the world takes action to stave off this impending disaster.