The UN Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, has appealed for 272.3 million U.S. dollars to provide humanitarian services to 3 million people in Somalia, including 2 million children in 2023.
The UN agency said the funds will help it expand the delivery of essential multisectoral services, with a focus on hard-to-reach areas as well as strengthen its leadership role in cluster coordination.
UNICEF said its Level 3 Scale-Up Activation for the Horn of Africa, in conjunction with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee System-Wide Scale-Up, aims to respond in Somalia to an estimated 7.7 million people, including 5.1 million children, 4.4 million girls and women who will need humanitarian assistance in 2023. These needs stem from the impact of the ongoing drought, conflict, displacement and the COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases.
Somalia is currently experiencing a historic dry spell with a predicted fifth consecutive failed rainy season, a situation not witnessed in more than four decades.
More than 90 percent of the country is experiencing severe to extreme drought conditions which have combined increased conflict and high food prices to worsen the humanitarian situation, the UN said.
According to UNICEF, an estimated 6.7 million people are experiencing severe food insecurity, including 2.2 million people who are estimated to be in Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) Phase 4 (emergency levels) and at least 300,000 people in Phase 5 (catastrophe levels). It said the drought, insecurity and conflict have further degraded children’s access to education and their protective environment
