UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths visited Baidoa in Bay region, the epicenter of the hunger crisis ripping through Somalia, and Banadir hospital in Mogadishu. Despite the immense suffering he witnessed, he fears that “the worst is yet to come” for the people of Somalia.
As the drought worsens, 7.8 million people nearly half of the country’s estimated population need humanitarian assistance. Hundreds of thousands of people are at imminent risk of death if we do not act immediately. The latest Somalia Food Security and Nutrition analysis report, being released today, shows concrete indications that famine will occur in two areas in the Bay region (Baidoa and Burhakaba districts) in south-central Somalia between October and December of this year.
“Famine is at the door, and today we are receiving a final warning,” Griffiths said. “But panic doesn’t help those who need and deserve our help. It is not a strategy. Providing more humanitarian assistance is. Somalia knows, tragically, about famine, Somalis know about crises of hunger. In 2016 and 2017, the people of Somalia and their Government, helped by humanitarian agencies, held back and prevented a famine and we must hope that we will see this again now.”