Underernæringen er forfærdende høj og halvdelen af alle børn er ramt
The UN says tens of thousands of people will have died of starvation by the time the famine in the Horn of Africa ends, reports BBC online Sunday.
The food crisis was declared in Somalia six months ago and levels of need are expected to remain high until July or August even though malnutrition (underernæring) rates have begun to drop.
UN aid chief in Somalia, Mark Bowden, told the BBC malnutrition rates there were the highest in the world with a quarter of a million Somalis still suffering from the famine.
– Children will have suffered the most …up to half of the child population suffered from severe or acute malnutrition, Mr. Bowden said.
Somalia has not had a functioning central government for more than 20 years and has been wracked by fighting between militias.
Although 1,3 billion US dollar worth of aid has been poured into the country, the BBC says the scale of the suffering is immense.
Last year, tens of thousands of Somalis fled rural areas – many over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya – in search of food. The UN estimates that a total of 1,5 million people have been displaced by the crisis.
The UN is calling for additional funds to deliver flocks of sheep, goats and camels so that people can re-build their lives.
Aid agencies have warned in recent months that conflict was jeopardising (bringe i fare) the aid effort,
