Hunger and Diarrhea kill over 100 people in Baay region, PM says

110 people have died from hunger and diarrhea outbreak in the past 48 hours in Baay region barely four days after President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo declared the drought a national disaster

The United Nations estimates that five million people in the Horn of Africa nation need aid, amid warnings of a full-blown famine.

“It is a difficult situation for the pastoralists and their livestock. Some people have been hit by famine and diarrhea at the same time. In the last 48 hours 110 people died due to famine and diarrhea in Bay region,” Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire’s office said in a statement on Saturday.

Khaire made the announcement while speaking to the drought committee in Mogadishu.

“The Somali government will do its best, and we urge all Somalis wherever they are to help and save the dying Somalis,” Kheire pledged.

The premier has urged “business people and everyone to contribute to the drought response efforts aimed at saving the lives of the millions of Somalis dying of hunger and lack of water”,

Abdullahi Omar Mohamed, the district commissioner of  Ow-diinle district  in Bay region speaking to Goobjoog News said “Outbreaks of diarrhea and some cases of measles are striking down people, mainly children already weakened by hunger.”

Thousands have been streaming into Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, in search of food aid, overwhelming local and international aid agencies. Over 7,000 internally displaced people checked into one feeding center recently.

In 2011, some 260,000 people starved to death in Somalia due to famine.