The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has urged donor agencies to support Somalia with immediate funding to avert looming famine.

The aid organisation says it has recorded a sharp rise in acute malnutrition admissions in the country, with one clinic recording a 265 percent increase in admissions from April to May 2022.

With about 250,000 lives lost, half of whom were children, during the 2011 famine that resulted from failed consecutive rainy seasons, urgency, now more than ever, is needed to avert what could soon become one of the worst humanitarian crises in the Horn of Africa.

Over seven million people in Somalia are currently suffering from severe food insecurity with the likelihood of famine being declared in the coming months.

The ongoing crisis in Ukraine also continues to impact global fuel and food prices with developing countries like Somalia bearing the brunt.

‘We have had to drastically reconsider our operations due to the sharp increase in prices and fuel over the last few months’, IRC’s Supply Chain Manager in Somalia, Hashi Abdi, said in a statement.

‘When we do not have enough medical supplies in our clinics, we have to turn away the increasing number of patients that are in need of critical care and support.

‘This is happening all the more frequently as life-saving aid is diverted to help Ukraine – leading to an even more drastic reduction in the aid we can deliver. As ever, this is impacting the most vulnerable the most.

‘Without immediate international funding, a catastrophic famine is undoubtedly on the horizon for Somalia and the region as a whole’.

IRC, it is understood, is using unconditional cash transfers to help people get the urgent support they need, as well as rehabilitating boreholes and water sources and mobile health services.

Source: IRC

Photo source: Reuters/Feisal Omar