Famine in Somalia - Key Facts and Figures

UNICEF NZ (UN Children’s Fund)

Famine in Somalia – Key Facts and Figures from UNICEF
UNICEF NZ Emergency Appeal – www.unicef.org.nz or 0800 800 194

General Information

• Famine has been declared in Lower Shabelle and parts of Bakool in southern Somalia.
• Other southern regions may also be affected in the coming two months.
• Tens of thousands of people have died and many more lives are at risk.
• 3.7 million people, more than half the population , require humanitarian assistance – a 35% increase from 2.4 million in the beginning of the year.
• Cereal prices are at an all-time high, with the cost of some commodities up by 270% in some areas in the south.
• The cost of the food basket has increased by 50% in the southern regions.

Malnutrition

• Famine is declared when acute malnutrition rates amongst children exceed 30% and more than 2 people in 10,000 die per day.
• Malnutrition rates in parts of Bakool and Lower Shabelle are at 50% with the highest death rates exceeding six deaths in 10,000 per day.
• Immediate assistance is needed to avert the situation which could worsen in the coming months.
• More than 100,000 malnourished children have been treated in some 800 nutrition centers throughout Somalia between January and May 2011.
• 554,000 children are malnourished in the south – an increase from 476,000 – meaning, 1 in 3 children is malnourished.

Displacement and Internally Displaced People (IDP)

• 68,000 Somalis have arrived in Kenya and 54,000 in Ethiopia refugee camps since January
• Nearly 135,000 Somalis have fled their country since January mainly due to the drought.
• 15,300 people have been displaced into Mogadishu from other regions since 1 July.
• An average of 1,700 and 1,300 Somalis are arriving in Ethiopia and Kenya respectively on a daily basis.
• Nearly 800,000 Somalis are displaced in the region – Kenya (423,000) Yemen (188,000), Ethiopia (140,000), while others are in Uganda, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea and Tanzania.
• 1.46 million people are IDPs within Somalia living in poor conditions. The majority of IDPs – 409,000--are living along the Afgooye Corridor, a 30 kilometre stretch of road between Mogadishu to Afgooye Town.
• Another 372,000 are protracted IDPs living in Mogadishu since the early 1990s.

ENDS

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