20110629
xinhua
NAIROBI, June 29 (Xinhua)--About 2.5 million people are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance in Somalia, a UN humanitarian agency said.

In its June update, the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the Horn of Africa nation is now experiencing the worst situation in 10 years due to drought, food shortages, soaring food prices, and conflict. "Two consecutive seasons of significantly below-average rainfall have resulted in poor harvest. Food prices in some parts of south Somalia are 200 percent higher than during the same period last year," the agency said in an update received on Wednesday. "The number of people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance is now 2.5 million, and in some parts of the south, 1 in 3 children is malnourished," it said.

Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled to the neighboring countries of Kenya and Ethiopia for help.

According to the latest OCHA humanitarian bulletin, from June 17-24, WFP delivered 325 metric tons of mixed food commodities to 52,000 people in the capital, Mogadishu. UNICEF has distributed 8, 300 bags of nutrition supplies to 2,800 children in Afmadow and Jilib districts and 2,500 cartons of Plumpy Nut as well as essential drugs in Hiraan.

It is also running Outpatient Therapeutic Programme (OTP) activities in Hiraan, Dolow, Luuq, and other places.

Worrying reports from refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia indicate that the Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates among refugees newly arrived from Somalia are as high as 45 percent, exceeding all emergency thresholds, and death rates are at emergency levels. As of 19 June, 54,700 Somalis were registered in Kenya this year, according to UNHCR.

While access to vulnerable people in the south remained difficult for humanitarian workers, humanitarian aid continues. Construction and rehabilitation of boreholes and shallow wells, coordinated by UNICEF and the local NGO Jubaland Charity Center (JCC), are ongoing in the Middle Juba region. UNICEF is also leading the construction of some 500 household latrines and of toilets in schools and health facilities in this region. Boreholes and latrines are also being constructed in the Lower Juba region to assist 77,900 people.

WFP is now making efforts to secure funds to cover associated costs for a Brazilian in-kind contribution of 50,000 metric tons of maize and 15,000 metric tons of beans. Enditem