REACTION - Oxfam response to new Somalia hunger figures

“Famine in Somalia is postponed, not prevented. People are dying now from hunger, malnutrition and disease in the worst hunger crisis in living memory. Current efforts can only hold off a full-scale catastrophe for a limited time. Without an urgent and major increase in aid, many more people will die.

“Somalia has suffered from failed rains for an unprecedented five consecutive seasons. The catastrophic drought has caused crop failures and livestock deaths on a mass scale. Millions of people have lost their sources of income and food.

“Meanwhile, the price of staple food has skyrocketed, making food unaffordable for poor households. And to make matters worse, the long-running conflict particularly in central and southern Somalia persists, forcing people from their homes, disrupting markets and access, and restricting aid.

“This is a terrible vicious circle. Within a few months, it’s likely that nearly half the entire population of Somalia could be severely hungry and there will be more communities facing starvation.

“Despite the extreme human suffering, just over half of the UN humanitarian appeal is currently funded. Donors must immediately inject money to meet the $2.27bn UN appeal for Somalia and help the government to scale up its social protection programmes.”

ENDS

Notes to editor:

• The latest IPC analysis shows that 5.6 million people are now in crisis or worse levels of food insecurity and this is expected to rise to 6.4 million by March 2023, and 8.3 million by June 2023. By June 2023, the number of people in catastrophic levels of hunger (IPC Phase 5) is expected to double to 727,000.
• IPC analysis can be found here
• As of 6 December 22, only 55.1% of the current $2.27bn UN appeal was funded, Source: https://fts.unocha.org/countries/206/summary/2022