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Numbers of malnourished children in Somali feeding centres have doubled, warns Save the Children

Mon, 11 Jul 2011 11:44 GMT

Source: member // Save the Children UK

The number of children suffering from malnourishment at key Save the Children feeding centres in Puntland, northern Somalia has almost doubled in the past six months from 3,500 a month compared to 1800 in January, the children's charity warned.

This is the biggest number of children in crisis in Puntland since the feeding programme began a year ago, with drought, war and rising food prices taking an alarming toll on the most vulnerable. Children who suffer from chronic malnutrition fail to grow to their full genetic potential, both mentally and physically.

The monthly figures of malnourished children collated at Bosaso and Garowe, Puntland are reflected across all of the charity’s feeding centres in Somalia, indicating the food crisis is becoming more severe. The camps in Bosaso in the North are long term camps, but conditions elsewhere in the country are so severe that families are prepared to make the difficult and dangerous journey from the Somali capital Mogadishu and from other parts of drought-afflicted South Central Somalia to reach Bosaso.

Sonia Zambakides, Save the Children's emergency manager in Somalia, said: “Families are arriving from other parts of Somalia utterly destitute. They have lost their crops and livestock and have no money. They are struggling to survive on just one meal a day - or nothing at all." 

A Save the Children team in northern Somalia visited a camp called Tawakal, which houses 7,000 people, over 5,000 of which are children. Zambakides said: “People are living in very bad conditions. There are no latrines or washing facilities, many of the dwellings are made from cardboard, pieces of corrugated iron roofing and materials. Most of the people there are women and children. Many of the women try to find casual labour as cleaners or cooks, to earn money to feed their families. This means they have to leave their children all day long, the younger being looked after by the older ones.”

40 year old Habiba had just arrived at the camp a few days earlier,  having fled Mogadishu. She told Save the Children: "This drought has left us destitute, and the war has taken what little we had left. I am happy to be in a place where there is peace and no guns or bombs, now I need to find somewhere to live and income so that I can feed my children”

Across East Africa, 10 million people are facing a food crisis.  In Somalia,  the situation is acute with recent UN figures showing the number of malnourished children in many affected areas has doubled since January. Estimates show that 1 in 3 children in south and central Somalia, and almost a quarter of all children in Bosaso are now malnourished.

Save the Children is feeding 9000 children at 60 feeding centres across south central Somalia and Puntland and is also providing monthly family rations.  

Zambakides said: “We want to expand our work to provide food for  mothers and their children, shelter and healthcare. Children who are alone all day looking after their siblings need education and protection. We already have teams delivering life-saving help to children in Somalia. We are urgently appealing for more money so we can scale up our work and save thousands more children's lives."

Ends 

For more information or interviews call the Save the Children's press office on: 0207 012 6841 or out of hours on 07831 650 409  

Notes to Editors

The food crisis in East Africa has left millions of children hungry, thirsty and desperate. Without help, thousands could die. Save the Children is providing food, water, medicine and support to families here but we need your help – please donate today at: www.savethechildren.org.uk/en/east-africa-appeal.htm

Save the Children is also part of the Disasters Emergencies Committee  (DEC) which has launched an appeal for the crisis.

To make a donation to the DEC East Africa Crisis Appeal, call the 24-hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visit www.dec.org.uk or donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque. You can also donate £5 by texting the word CRISIS to 70000.