Drought caused at least 43,000 deaths in Somalia in one year – 03/20/2023 – World

The drought that hit Somalia, a country in the Horn of Africa, in the last decade, led to the death of about 43,000 people in 2022, shows a report supported by the UN and released this Monday (20). Of these, half —21,800— would be children under 5 years of age.

For years, humanitarian organizations have warned of the worsening climate and social crisis in the small country of 17 million inhabitants — a population similar to that of the state of Rio de Janeiro.

The report states that the situation, added to political instability, ethnic tensions and insecurity, has escalated malnutrition in the region.

The projection for the coming months remains equally worrying. The report estimates that from January to June, 135 people could die each day in Somalia as a result of drought, leading to a cumulative death toll of over 34,000 in just one semester.

To arrive at the figures, the study analyzed the death rate in Somalia from January to December 2022 – something around 0.33 per 10,000 people each day. The index was then compared to previous years, when the climate crisis was not yet at this stage, and it was observed that there is an excess of mortality associated with drought.

The study was led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on behalf of the WHO, the World Health Organization, and UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund.

The material also states that half of the local population needs humanitarian assistance, something that only worsened after the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic and the rise in food prices globally, a consequence, among other things, of the War in Ukraine.

And the impact of the drought is not evenly distributed across the territory bordering the Indian Ocean. The highest mortality rates are in the central and southern parts of the country, such as Bakool, Bay and Banadir regions.

The fallout from the climate emergency was compounded after five rainy seasons saw much lower-than-expected water volumes, which devastated farmland and led to widespread famine.

The expectation of the UN is that, with the release of the study, one of the first to calculate the direct impact of the drought on the number of deaths, more humanitarian aid will be sent by the international community.

“The WHO has clearly stated that the drought is a health crisis as much as a food or climate crisis,” said the organization’s representative in Somalia, Mamunur Rahman Malik. “We are running out of time to prevent preventable deaths.”

In a separate statement, Somali Health Minister Ali Haji Adam Abubakar said his country needs more funding for food, clean water and medical services. “Otherwise, the vulnerable and marginalized will pay the price with their lives.”

Meanwhile, the central government, led by President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, elected in 2022 with promises of stability in the country, is fighting the effects of the climate crisis and violence.

With the help of troops sent by the African Union and nations like the US, Mogadishu has launched an offensive against the terrorist Al Shaabab, a group linked to Al Qaeda. The advance of government forces, which managed to recover occupied territories, led the group to expand attacks on civilian areas in recent months.