UNICEF Geneva Palais briefing note on rising severe acute malnutrition for children in Somalia

[p"The number of Somalia’s youngest children (those aged 6-59 months) who are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has now increased from 386,000 to 513,550.[/p][p"This is a staggering increase of 33 per cent. It means 127,000 more children are at risk of death.[/p][p"As we heard last week, children are already dying. Our partners report that some stabilization centres are full, and thus critically ill children are having to receive treatment on the floor.[/p][p"Severely malnourished children are up to 11 times more likely to die of diarrhoea and measles than well-nourished children, both of which are spiking across the region that is predicted to head into famine.[/p][p"Disease outbreaks have spiked between Jan-July, with at least 8,400 suspected acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera cases and around 13,000 suspected measles cases (78 per cent children under 5).  [/p][p"To give some terrifying context to this latest number: 340,000 children required treatment for severe acute malnutrition at the time of the 2011 famine. Today we are faced with 513,000 children at risk of death.[/p][p"That is, more than half a million children facing preventable death – it’s a number, a pending nightmare, we have not seen this century.[/p][p"We need radical change to stop famine happening again – ensuring donors commit long term funding to help families build resilience to the effects of this climate crisis. For example, UNICEF’s three-year appeal to help families and their communities build resilience in the Horn of Africa region is currently just 3 per cent funded"[/p]