Twelve months after the declaration of famine in Somalia, World Food Programme provides 10 simple questions with relative answers in order to better explain what the situation is now like.
July 20 is the one-year anniversary of the declaration of famine in Somalia -- a moment that, for many, marked the start of the 2011 food crisis in the Horn of Africa. What's the situation 12 months on? Here are 10 simple questions with (relatively) simple answers:
Loading Slideshow
Is there still famine in Somalia?
No, there are currently no famine areas in Somalia and malnutrition rates have improved considerably over the last year. But remember 'famine' has a very precise <a href="https://www.wfp.org/hunger/faqs" target="_hplink">definition</a>. Hunger can still be prevalent even if there is technically no famine.
2. What's behind the overall improvement?
It's partly due to good rainfall at the end of 2011, which translated into a good harvest and lower food prices. But it is also due to the humanitarian assistance.
3. Is humanitarian assistance still needed?
Yes, humanitarian assistance is still vital. The gains made over the last year are fragile and millions remain in need. The April-June rains were erratic and not all farmers got sufficient rain for their crops.
4. So how many people are still in trouble?
According to latest official data, some 2.5 million people are still "in crisis" throughout the country and an estimated 325,000 children are acutely malnourished.
5. How much has nutrition improved?
Nationwide, compared to last year, the malnutrition rate among children under age 5 has dropped from 30 percent to 22 percent, but the situation remains critical. Without the right nutrition, small children can suffer irreversible effects on their physical growth and on their cognitive development.
6. Where are the problems worst now?
The most vulnerable groups at the moment are: 1) displaced families and the urban population in Mogadishu; 2) displaced people in the Afgoye corridor (in the south), Central Somalia and Puntland; 3) families living from farming and herding in Middle Shabelle and Hiran; 4) areas around the Juba River (Southern Somalia); and herder communities around the coasts of Central and North East Regions
7. Is famine likely to return?
The situation is fragile and progress could quickly be reversed by a variety of factors, including: a below-average June harvest and an increase in cereal prices; outbreaks of disease; a lack of humanitarian assistance and in some areas a lack of humanitarian access; insecurity and military action.
8. How many people has WFP reached since July last year?
WFP has reached about 1.5 million people in Somalia since the start of the food crisis in the Horn of Africa. At the moment we are shifting focus from emergency assistance towards targeted programmes -- including building reservoirs, wells and roads -- that <a href="https://www.wfp.org/food-assets" target="_hplink">strengthen communities' resilience</a> to seasonal shocks such as droughts and floods.
9. Is it dangerous working in Somalia?
Somalia is one of the most challenging and dangerous environments to work in, largely due to insecurity, poor infrastructure and a widely scattered population. In fact, there are still some areas of the south to which we have no access.
10. What's the outlook?
The outlook for the country is mixed. For pastoralist communities in the north and central regions (who depend mainly on raising livestock), things are looking up due to increased pasture and improved conditions. Other regions (see above) are more worrying. One thing is sure, recovery from such a devastating drought is not a speedy process and the coming year will present its own challenges.
Key numbers:
The ongoing food crisis in Somalia continues to affect some 2.5 million people across the country. 1.7 million of those people live in southern Somalia where WFP and other aid agencies have limited access. Since this time last year, WFP has reached around 1.5 million people in Somalia with food assistance. Around 15,000 people are now receiving food vouchers in the central parts of the country where there is food to be bought in the markets. The malnutrition rate among children under age 5 has dropped from 30 percent to 22 percent over the past six months.
PHOTOS:
|
Workers distribute food aid from the World Food Program at a refugee camp in Dolo, Somalia on Wednesday, July 18, 2012. The U.N., which declared a famine in Somalia one year ago, says conditions have improved but that 2.5 million people are still in crisis. (AP Photo/Jason Straziuso)
|
|
This post originally appeared on the World Food Programme blog.
Related stories:
One year on. . .
Somalia: What Difference Does A Year Make?
Somalia Woman Emerges From Hunger Crisis To Start Her Own Business
20 inches of rain per year.
Get them water reservoirs and teach them arid weather farming techniques.
Or get them to move.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/so.html
Of course in fourteen years there will be 2,226,000 more people, 14 years or younger.
Now something that must never be mentioned in any discussion of starving babies, is they, in a relatively short time produce many more starving babies.
Two more sites, before your blood pressure jumps from anger at what has been stated, PLEASE check on two sites.
www.worldometer.info -- Real time statistics in the growth of the human population, and the deterioration of the earth's envirnoment.
and
Joel E. Cohen, a Mathematical biologist and the head of the Laboratory of Population at Rockefeller University and Columbia University. “How Many People Can the Earth Support?”
“Providing modern family planning methods to all people with unmet needs would cost about $6.7 billion a year, slightly less than the $6.9 billion that Americans are expected to spend for Halloween this year”.
The New York Times, Op-Ed October 24, 2011.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/opinion/seven-billion.html?pagewanted=all
Without giving every female in Somalia the ability to inexpensibly, conveniently, and effective deciding how many pregnancies she wants.
I guess you were unaware that with the possible exception of yourself, all human being have a libido.
Believe it or not, that includes the Former Speaker of the House, that extreme moralist, Newt Gingrich.
Maybe if every female on the face of this earth were given a cheap, convenient, and easily accessible means to determine how many pregnacies she wants.
See: www.worldometer.info. But don't worry it never addresses the s-x word.