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September 7, 2022 21:57
The World Health Organization said Wednesday that many people likely died of famine in Somalia, which is witnessing an unprecedented drought, warning that humanitarian aid organizations cannot meet the growing needs.
According to the United Nations, Somalia is on the brink of famine for the second time in just over ten years, and there is an urgent need to save lives.
“It is expected that some parts of Somalia will plunge into famine in the very near future, unless humanitarian assistance is urgently strengthened,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from the organization’s headquarters in Geneva.
“Millions of other people in other parts of the country are facing severe starvation and it is likely that many more people died of starvation,” he added.
He warned that the rapid increase in humanitarian aid since the beginning of the year has saved many lives, but today “the resources of the World Health Organization and its partners to respond to the crisis have been exceeded by the growing needs.”
He stressed that “Somalia and its neighboring countries in the Horn of Africa, as well as the countries of the Sahel region, need the world’s help and they need it now.”
The head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, declared Monday that Somalia is “on the verge of famine”, giving a “last warning” before disaster strikes the Horn of Africa country, which is facing a historic drought.
Source: agencies
