20110128
Xinhua
NAIROBI, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The African Development Bank (AfDB) has approved 655,000 U.S. dollars for emergency relief assistance grant for Somalia.

The humanitarian assistance aims at reducing the risk of death among the most vulnerable communities in Mogadishu and surrounding areas from diseases associated with lack of proper health services, lack of clean and safe water, poor sanitation, food insecurity and poor nutrition in internally-displaced people's camps.

"The Bank's emergency humanitarian assistance will cover three areas, namely health/nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, and community mobilization," the bank said in a statement received on Friday.

The project's objective is to support ongoing efforts by the international community to reduce the high rates of illness and death caused by poor nutrition, lack of clean and safe water, and poor sanitation in Mogadishu and the surrounding areas.

The operation will be implemented by Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA), on behalf of the Transitional Federal Government. Somalia is currently facing its worse humanitarian crisis.

AHA is an international African humanitarian NGO with experience in emergency operations in conflict-affected zones across the continent.

The assistance will be backed by adequate operating procedures for procurement and delivery. The AfDB's Ethiopia Field Office will ensure close monitoring of activities. "The number of people affected is estimated at 2 million in urgent need of humanitarian support. This figure is very high in a country with an estimated 7.5 million population," AfDB said.

In addition, Somalia has one of the highest Internally Displaced People (IDP) in the world. The IDPs are estimated at 1.5 million.

The most vulnerable include women, children and households in IDP camps, particularly those in Mogadishu and surrounding areas. Humanitarian assistance is needed in several sectors, including healthcare, nutrition, safe water and sanitation.

Somalia, which has not had a functioning central government since 1991, has been torn apart by decades of conflict and factional strife, more recently with al-Shabaab Islamic militants.

According to UN, the Horn of Africa country is also facing a dire humanitarian crisis in which 3.2 million people, more than 40 per cent of the population, is in need of aid.