The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has announced a move to provide water to 40,000 people in Galmudug State, Somalia.

Development Diaries understands that the water project, funded by the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (UNCERF), aims to assist in mitigating the water crisis in the country.

Clean water and sanitation, which is crucial to human health and well-being, is number six of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

‘Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all’, the SDG six reads.

Also, water security is one of the goals of Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU).

According to UNICEF, only 52 percent of Somalia’s population have access to a basic water supply.

Additional data from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) shows that 2.6 million people are facing water shortages due to severe drought conditions in the country.

‘Water prices have risen by 72 percent in some of the worst-affected states since November. [UNICEF Somalia] with funding from [UNCERF] is supporting the authorities to provide water to 40,000 people in Galmudug State’, UNICEF tweeted.

The rapidly worsening drought could lead to an extreme situation by April 2022, according to the UN; and Oxfam, in a 2021 report, noted that failed rainy seasons had placed nearly 90 percent of Somalia in severe drought.

Somalia has experienced more than 30 climate-related hazards since 1990, including 12 droughts and 19 floods.

The water crisis and climate-related droughts have tipped the prices of water and food in Somalia and the entire Horn of Africa.

Source: UNICEF Somalia

Photo source: UNICEF Somalia