The UN agency dealing with children's issues UNICEF on Tuesday (8/2/2022) predicted 20 million people in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will need water and food assistance in the next six months because of the driest drought in four decades in the region. .
"UNICEF projects that up to 20 million people in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia will need water and food assistance in the next six months," Mohamed Malick Fall, UNICEF's regional director for East and South Africa, said at a news conference.
“That number is about the same as the population of Greece and Sweden – put together,” he said in a video interview from Nairobi, Kenya.
Three consecutive dry seasons have caused severe water scarcity, killed livestock and crops, displaced populations, and increased the risk of disease and severe malnutrition. Of that number there are quite a lot of children. According to Malick Fall, this is an emergency caused by the worst climate in 40 years.
The UNICEF official said that the region is experiencing not only the Covid-19 pandemic but also climate change.
Children pay 'biggest consequences'
He said children were paying the "biggest price" for a crisis they didn't create. Malick Fall said the ongoing climate-impact emergency is depriving children of their homes, food, classrooms and access to life-saving healthcare.
Currently, nearly 5.5 million children in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia are at risk of acute malnutrition and an estimated 1.4 million are severely acute malnourished.
"UNICEF fears this number will increase by 50 percent if rain does not fall in the next three months," said Malick Fall.
“In Somalia alone, an estimated 1.3 million children under the age of five are at risk of malnutrition, including about 295,000 severe cases. These numbers are expected to worsen.”
The UNICEF official said families were taking extreme measures to survive and, in many cases, leaving their homes, leaving children moving at risk.
At the same press conference, the world's food agency WHO said around 13 million people suffer from hunger every day in the region.