Somalia could plunge into famine by June-FAO

GOOBJOOG NEWS|MOGADISHU: Somalia could fall into a famine by June if the current rains fails and humanitarian aid is not scaled up, FAO has said warning parts of the country are already on the brink.
According to its latest report, FAO said part of Hiiraan, Bay and Bakool regions, Dhusamareb and IDP settlement in Mogadishu were facing worsening drought conditions.
“Further and faster deterioration of the food security and nutrition situation is expected during the April to June 2022 projection period, with over 6 million people facing Crisis or worse,” the Intergrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) noted.
This number of people represents 31% of the population.
To stem the tide, FAO has called for urgent and timely scaling up of humanitarian assistance is required to prevent extreme food security and nutrition outcomes, including the risk of Famine.

Although 3.5 million people were reached wirh humanitarian assistance between January and February, the report says, those efforts are quickly being outpaced by the rapid increase in the size of the food insecure population, influx of newly displaced people, widening of
household food consumption gaps, loss of livelihood assets, and worsening acute malnutrition.
The UN body warns the 2011 famine scenario could play out again noting trends have shown that mutli season droughts could result in famine. At least 260,000 people, majority of them children, succumbed to the 2011 famine.