‘Child Deaths Explosion’ Near Horn Of Africa, UNICEF Says –

Mogadishu, Somalia (AP) – No mother should lose a child. Olio Hassan Salaad witnessed the deaths of four people this year. The drought in the Horn of Africa wiped them out one after another.

Now, she carries her weak and tired 3-year-old Ali Osman in her crib, which she used to walk 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the village to the Somali capital, disappointed that she won’t lose him either. . She sat on the floor of a poor nutrition center full of worried mothers and could barely speak to the tiny bodies buried in the very dry ground to bury at home.

The deaths began with the region’s driest drought in the past four decades. Previously unreported data shared with the Associated Press shows at least 448 deaths this year in Somali malnutrition centers alone. The governments of Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are now moving towards the bitter task of preventing hunger.

More and more are dying unnoticed by authorities, such as Salad’s four children, all under 10 years old. Some die in remote pastoral communities. Some are dying in search of hiking help. Some also die after arriving in relocation camps, malnourished without assistance.

“Truly thousands” have been killed, UN humanitarian coordinator in Somalia Adam Abdelmola told reporters on Tuesday, though data to confirm this is not yet available.

Insalata is survived by four other children with his wife. They are too weak to travel to Mogadishu, he said.

Drought comes and goes in the Horn of Africa, but it looks like nothing else. Humanitarian aid has dropped in global crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and now the Russian war in Ukraine. Prices for staples Both grain and oil It grows rapidly, in some areas more than 100%. Millions of cows that provide families with milk, meat and wealth have died. Medicinal foods for the hungry such as salads are also expensive and can be consumed in some areas.

And for the first time, the fifth rainy season may fail.

The “infant mortality explosion” would come to Africa if the world focused only on the war in Ukraine and did not act now, UNICEF said on Tuesday.

Famine also threatens the Somali capital as refugee camps outside Mogadishu are filled with tired newcomers. Salad and her son were evacuated from the crowded hospital last week.

In return, they were sent to an extremely malnourished medical treatment center where rooms were filled, extra beds were made and some people had to sleep on the floor. Mothers moan and babies cry as small bodies with wounds and raised ribs gently examine for signs of healing.

“The center is crowded,” said Dr Mustafa Yusuf, a local doctor. Hospitalization doubled in May, reaching 122 patients.

At least 30 people were killed before April this year at the center and at six other facilities that ran anti -hunger actions, the humanitarian group said. The highest rate of admission to famine care centers began in 1992 in Somalia, where the number of malnourished children rose by 55% compared to last year.

Overall, according to data collected by humanitarian groups and local authorities, at least 448 people died this year at outpatient and inpatient malnutrition centers across Somalia in April.

Auxiliary workers warned that the data was incomplete and the total number of drought deaths was still unclear.

“We know from experience that mortality rises sharply when all conditions are in place – relocation, spread of disease, malnutrition – all of which we currently see in Somalia,” said Biram Ndiae, UNICEF Somali Director of Food.

Mortality studies conducted in parts of Somalia in December and again in April and May by the United Nations Food Analysis and Food Security Unit showed “severe and rapid deterioration in a very short period of time.” Most alarming is the Gulf region in the south, where adult mortality has nearly tripled, infant mortality has doubled and malnutrition has tripled the worst rate.

According to the Network of Early Hunger Warning Systems, mortality and chronic malnutrition have reached “atypical high levels” in much of southern and central Somalia, while under-5 acute malnutrition has risen by 40% over the same period last year. years.

A notable complication of the death toll is the extremist group al-Shabab, which controls much of southern and central Somalia as a barrier to aid. Its brutal response to the famine caused by the 2010-12 drought in Somali resulted in more than a quarter of a million deaths, half of them children.

Another factor is the slow response of the international community. “Drama without witnesses,” the UN humanitarian coordinator in Somalia said at the time.

Now the alarm went off again.

More than 200,000 people in Somalia are facing “famine and catastrophic famine, a steep increase from 81,000 expected in April,” a joint statement by the UN agency said Monday, citing the humanitarian response plan. was funded only for 18% this year.

Somalia is not alone. In drought -hit areas in Ethiopia, according to Unicef, the number of children being treated for the most severe malnutrition – the “peak of the crisis” – rose 27% in the first quarter of this year. The increase was 71% in Kenya, where doctors across the border reported at least 11 deaths in a country’s malnutrition program earlier this year.

In one of the deported refugee camps outside Mogadishu, the latest arrivals were delighted when they described the deaths of family members.

“I left some of my children to take care of them,” said Amina Abdi Hassan, who comes from a village in southern Somalia with her minor child. They are still hungry because help will be lost, even in the capitol.

“There are a lot of other ways,” he said.

Hava Abdi Osman said she lost her children to the drought. Weakened and weakened by another pregnancy, she spent five days walking in Mogadishu.

“Some of our relatives had to leave, others died while we were watching,” said her cousin Halima Ali Dhubov.

More and more people come to camp every day, using the last stream of energy to build temporary dust shelters, reinforcing the branches with fabric and plastic. According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, some spent 19 days arriving in the capital.

“Only 120 families came last night,” said Nadif Hussein, the camp’s director. “We give them all the little provisions we have, like bread. The number of people is so great that their help is beyond our capabilities. Aid agencies used to help, but now there is very little help.

“Only God can help them,” he said.

Reported by Kara Anna from Nairobi, Kenya. Edith Lederer contributed to the UN on this report.