Ethiopia: Sixty-seven children die of acute malnutrition in Somali region in June

ESAT News (June 26, 2017)

A humanitarian agency says 67 children have died of acute malnutrition in the Somali region of Ethiopia in the month of June alone, warning that an acute humanitarian emergency is unfolding in Doolo zone, as malnutrition reaches alarming levels. The number of affected children is tenfold compared to the same year last year.

“The numbers of young children with severe acute malnutrition in Doolo zone are the highest ever seen in this area by our teams in the 10 years we have worked in the region,” says Saskia van der Kam, nutritional advisor for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), whose teams are working in Doolo zone, the worst affected area.

The doctors’ group says its teams have treated 6,136 children under five for severe acute malnutrition since January, which is over 10 times more than in the same period of 2016, when 491 children received treatment for the life-threatening condition.

“In the first two weeks of June alone, 322 severely malnourished children were admitted in the four inpatient feeding centres supported by MSF. Despite all medical efforts, 51 of these children did not survive. The total number in June has risen to 67 children,” MSF said in a release on Monday.

“The deaths of these 67 children show the gravity of the situation,” says van der Kam. “What we are seeing is a humanitarian emergency.”

The medical group says the malnutrition crisis comes in the wake of two failed rainy seasons. Many people have seen their livestock die as a result of the drought, which has forced them to abandon their traditional nomadic way of life. They have settled in informal camps, where they do not have enough food and safe water to survive.

The Somali region of Ethiopia is the worst affected by the current drought in Ethiopia where 7.8 million people face the threat of starvation. Aid agencies say the food pipeline is breaking in a month’s time and called for the international community to intervene to stop a humanitarian catastrophe.