43,000 Dead in Somalia Drought Demands UK action, Christian Aid Warns
As a new report warns an estimated 43,000 people died amid the longest drought on record in Somalia last year, international development agency Christian Aid has called on the UK Government to “urgently get more funding to the front line.”
The report, released by the World Health Organization and the United Nations children’s agency, is the first official death toll announced in the drought. At least 18,000 people are forecast to die in the first six months of this year.
Somalia and neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya are facing a sixth consecutive failed rainy season while rising global food prices complicate the hunger crisis.
Jennifer Larbie, Christian Aid’s Interim Head of of Global Advocacy & Policy, said:
Millions are taking desperate measures to survive in the face of failed harvests, livestock deaths, water shortages and extreme hunger. As we have for Ukraine, we have a moral duty to act.
The UK Government needs to heed the alarms. Ministers must urgently get more funding to the front line of this hunger crisis, mobilise the international community to act and ensure all humanitarian support is directed to local actors who are best placed to respond.
