In the Greater Horn of Africa, around 60 million individuals are in dire need of humanitarian aid, with five million children below the age of five projected to face severe malnutrition in 2023, a figure that staggers at over 10.4 million in the region, according to Liesbeth Aelbrecht, the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Incident Manager for the Greater Horn of Africa emergency.
“Our colleagues are reporting a record number of severely malnourished children presenting at healthcare facilities with medical complications since the onset of the crisis three years ago,” noted Aelbrecht, underlining the severity of the current predicament.
Echoing this alarming announcement, Dominique Ferretti, the World Food Programme (WFP) Senior Emergency Officer, highlighted that nearly three years of drought have now been replaced by heavy rains and destructive flash floods. “One well-performing rainy season is not sufficient to resolve the crisis,” Ferretti warned.
The much-anticipated rains, which arrived in March across the eight-member Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) region – covering Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Uganda – brought the prospect of some relief. Yet they also resulted in flash floods that devastated homes and farmland, killed livestock, and shut down schools and health facilities.
Consequently, the Greater Horn of Africa has experienced its highest number of reported disease outbreaks this century, with the frequency of these outbreaks directly associated with the extreme climatic events, reports the UN health agency. Ms Aelbrecht highlighted the ongoing cholera and measles outbreaks, and the “very high numbers” of malaria cases.
On the climate front, the UN Food and Agriculture Agency (FAO) indicated that the El Niño weather conditions present could amplify during the year and potentially result in above-average rains in the eastern part of the region, including much of Kenya, the Somali region of Ethiopia, and Somalia.
The FAO stressed the importance of transitioning from a system primarily focused on emergency response, to one that predicts and mitigates crises through strategic investments like rainwater harvesting, soil and water conservation, or using drought-resistant crops.
Among the 60 million people facing severe food insecurity are over 15 million women of reproductive age, 5.6 million adolescent girls, and approximately 1.1 million pregnant women, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Increased food insecurity puts pregnant women at higher risk of complications and potential fatalities. Furthermore, malnutrition among pregnant and breastfeeding mothers escalates the likelihood of malnutrition in their unborn and breastfeeding children, perpetuating the cycle of malnutrition in the community.
Finally, the threat looms of a potential crisis in grain supplies if the UN-brokered Black Sea Initiative to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports to the world’s markets is not renewed next month. “Ukraine is a crucial supplier and the termination of this initiative would have severe consequences,” warned WFP’s Ferretti.
