Climate-Induced Drought Endangering Children's Lives in Somalia
Families in Somalia are struggling to survive the region's worst drought in 40 years. UNICEF is providing emergency water access.
Severe drought caused by four consecutive failed rainy seasons has plunged the Horn of Africa into crisis, killing livestock, destroying livelihoods and pushing increasingly desperate families out of their homes in search of water, nutrition and shelter. Mothers walk for days with their malnourished children in their arms, hoping to reach a health center before it's too late.
By early October 2022, some 8.5 million people — 4.2 million of them children — across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya were facing severe water shortages, while 20 million required immediate food assistance as a result of the drought.
This is what climate change looks like.
Speaking from Somalia in the video below, UNICEF spokesperson James Elder offers viewers a powerful glimpse of what UNICEF is doing to scale up emergency services that provide a lifeline to families in crisis.
Scorched earth, dead livestock
To meet the immediate needs of families struggling to survive without drinkable water, UNICEF is trucking water in across the country. In the past three months, 500,000 people in Somalia have received safe water delivered by UNICEF.
UNICEF is scaling up lifesaving services
In September 2022, UNICEF treated 33,809 children in Somalia for life-threatening severe malnutrition — a 66 percent increase in the number of children treated during the same period in 2021. Of the children who received treatment, 96 percent recovered successfully.
More help is needed. "An escalating malnutrition crisis is pushing millions of children to the brink of starvation," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Unless we do more, that crisis will become a catastrophe."
Help UNICEF reach more children and families threatened by severe drought in the Horn of Africa.
HOW TO HELP
There are many ways to make a difference
War, famine, poverty, natural disasters — threats to the world's children keep coming. But UNICEF won't stop working to keep children healthy and safe.
UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories — more places than any other children's organization. UNICEF has the world's largest humanitarian warehouse and, when disaster strikes, can get supplies almost anywhere within 72 hours. Constantly innovating, always advocating for a better world for children, UNICEF works to ensure that every child can grow up healthy, educated, protected and respected.
Would you like to help give all children the opportunity to reach their full potential? There are many ways to get involved.
