Aid Still Needed for Somalia Famine

Photo Courtesy of News One

Last year's Somali famine killed over 10,000 people. Thanks to a plentiful harvest and an increase in emergency food aid, the famine has finally ended. However, UN officials warn that emergency food aid is needed for more than two million Somalis.

Anti-Western Islamist militia group Shabab banned Western aid from entering most of southern Somalia. Even in the face of such staunch opposition the United Nations helped contribute more than $1 billion. Aid workers worked tirelessly to deliver emergency aid to areas under the Somali transitional government.

Senait Gebregziabher, head of Somali operations for Oxfam has said, "The world shouldn't turn its back on Somalia solely because statistics say there is no longer a famine."

-Akshika Patel


SOURCE:New York Times

Record High Migration to Yemen

The accumulated total number of refugees and migrants to make it from the Horn of Africa to Yemen is at a record high of 84,656.  It has been reported by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) that numbers are expected to grow even further by the end of this year.  The majority of refugees have come from Ethiopia, and have since 2009 constituted as the "largest group among those to cross the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden."  Sailing patterns have shifted significantly over the years due to increase in traffic on the Red Sea.  With more frequent boat arrivals, more refugees are able to seek safety and opportunities on Yemen grounds.  However, leaving their countries by no means guarantee them an abundance of freedom.  There is concern regarding the increasing trend of abductions, extortions, kidnappings, and sexual assaults directed at refugees, particularly Ethiopian migrants.  Yemen is to host more than 200,491 Somalian refugees and 445,679 displaced Yemeni civilians are to be displaced throughout the country.

--Georisa Chang

SOURCE: UN News Center

UNICEF: More Resources are Needed in the Horn of Africa

The massive humanitarian response to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa has eased the suffering of many, but more resources are needed to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern Somalia. Elhadi As Sy, the UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa, called for the scaling up of integrated intervention in health, nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, education and child protection.

In its monthly report, UNICEF detailed the scale and impact of the famine.

• 13.3 million people are in need of assistance across the Horn of Africa, half of them children. 
• Famine has been declared in six areas of Somalia
• The lives of 750,000 people are at risk if relief efforts are not increased by December. 
• Thousands of children have already died, and more than 320,000 - half of them in central and southern Somalia - are suffering from life threatening malnutrition. 
• More than 450,000 Somalis have fled to refugee camps in north-eastern Kenya. Another 183,000 Somalis have entered Ethiopia, and around 20,000 Somalis have fled to Djibouti.  

The report gave thanks to the international community, for allowing UNICEF and partners across the Horn of Africa to achieve important results on which to build. In the past three months over 10,000 tons of supplies have been delivered to the Horn of Africa. Over 108,000 malnourished children have been treated through therapeutic feeding centers, and some 2.2 million people have received safe drinking water.  

While the humanitarian response to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa has helped thousands, more resources are needed to maintain the relief effort. Thus, although much has been done, it is important to remember that the crisis is far from over.  

- Madeline R. Lee 

SOURCE: UN NEWS 

Appeal from the Executive Director of ONE

The UN recently released data that the famine has not yet reached its peak and will continue to get worse before the situation may begin to make a turnaround in early 2012.

Many international agencies believe that the famine, a disaster created not by nature but by humans, could have been prevented. After the last famine that attacked the Horn of Africa, safety measure were put in place to prevent another widespread humanitarian disaster. However, history is repeating itself once again, which is the argument that is put forth by Jamie Drummond, the executive director of ONE. Click here to see his appeal.

"We can’t just blame politics for their fate while sitting by and doing nothing. We must deal with the politics embedded into the way we deal with the crisis – the local issues that turn drought into famine, the regional complexities that make response slow and difficult, and the global neglect that means promises are rarely kept. We must learn these lessons and in the name of those who have died, declare this time for real: never again."

Let's do our part as global citizens. Please take the time to get in contact with your congressional leaders. See yesterday's blog post for an email template that can be sent so that life-saving food assistance programs will not be slashed in Congress.

-Chelsey Dambro

Source: africanarguments.org

Call Your Senators Or Send An Email To Congress NOW!

Since the drought in the Horn of Africa, Americans along with the international community have shown compassion and sent much-needed food aid in order to confront the impending tragedy. This action is the direct result of your concern and efforts in support of WFP USA (World Food Program USA). The response to the earlier requests to contact your representatives in Congress has been overwhelming. Thousands of emails and phone calls have been made urging Congress not to cut funding for emergency food aid. We salute you for that.

However, we need your voice again in our fight for the world’s hungry. A House-passed bill proposes cuts in emergency food assistance program which is the most effective we have so far by 75% from 2008 levels. The Senate Appropriations Committee is scheduled to consider the agriculture bill on Wednesday, September 7.

Since the drought, 300 children under five have died every day. By now this number has increased to 29,000 children in total. By the time Congress comes back, more than 36,000 will have perished; equal to the number of children under five in our nation’s capital. Therefore, Congress' support for emergency food aid programs has never been more important

Call your Senators or write to the members of the Senate Appropriations Committee a letter now. You can find the necessary information here.

Your action will cost you less than 5 minutes but it will save thousands of lives in the Horn of Africa.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: WFP USA

Ikea gives €43 million donation to help Somali refugees

A charitable foundation linked to the Swedish furniture chain, Ikea has given the United Nations its largest ever private donation in the agency’s 60-year history (€43 million or £38 million) to refugees who have fled civil war and famine in Somalia. This huge sum of money will be used to expand the world’s largest refugee complex in Dadaab, Kenya over the next three years, according to UN officials. The complex was first opened in the early 1990s and designed to hold 90,000, but it now holds 440,000 refugees, including 150,000 who have arrived in the last few months. The refugee crisis is still growing fuelled by violence, drought and famine in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres said that the donation would help up to 120,000 people fleeing a crisis that “continues to deepen with thousands of people fleeing Somalia every week”. UN officials also confirmed that the donation was examined with “due diligence” before it was accepted due to a recent controversy about the Nazi past of Ingvar Kamprad, Ikea’s founder.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH

11-Year Old Boy Raises Fund For East African Crisis

In order to help the victims of the recent famine and drought in the Horn of Africa, various countries and international aid agencies are stepping up. But they are not the only ones who are contributing. An 11-year old school boy aims to raise $13 million for the region.



Andrew Andasi from Ghana told the Agence France-Presse, “I saw a BBC documentary about Somalia and I looked to my father and asked why are they so lean and hungry like that. I thought, I should help them.” According to the source, Andasi has already raised $4,000 out of his $13 million target. Impressive, isn’t it?



Meanwhile, the Chinese government has pledged to step up its aid for the Horn of Africa through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) by announcing a 4 million yuan ($623,000) donation to ICRC operations in the region. ICRC spokesperson for Somalia Yves Van Loo confirmed that the agency in collaboration with the Somalia Red Cross, has distributed more than 3,000 tons of food in eight provinces in southern Somalia.



In response to the East African crisis, another international aid organization, Save the Children, recently launched a mass feeding program for Kenyan children under 3 which also includes pregnant women and lactating mothers.

-Nisha Noor

SOURCE: DEVEX

Increased Emergency Food Aid For Displaced Somali People

As a result of two decades of conflict and drought, it's estimated that nearly 2.4 million people, or 32 percent of the entire population (7.2 million), are in need of aid assistance and relief in Somalia. Luckily, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) is trying to help as many of these affected people as it can. This week, the WFP and its partners have promised further emergency help to 50,000 people in the capital city of Mogadishu, who are suffering from critical shortages of food. The food aid is made up mostly of high energy biscuits, packed with essential vitamins and minerals. Currently, the WFP and its partners are in the process of opening up new centers in refugee camps where internally displaced people can receive cooked meals. These new centers along with ones already in place are feeding 85,000 people a day, with hopes of reaching even more displaced Somalis in the coming months.

- Brock McNairy

SOURCE: UN News Centre

What Causes Polio?

Dozens of developing countries have suffered outbreaks of polio, the highly infectious viral disease. Polio and other diseases are major contributors to poverty. Polio victims struggle to create livelihoods for themselves and some struggle to even cope with day to day activities. Since polio cases are extremely rare in the United States, a large number of American citizens still do not know what exactly causes polio.

The World Health Organization’s (WHO) definition of polio is: Poliomyelitis (polio) is a highly infectious viral disease, which mainly affects young children. The virus is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and multiplies in the intestine, from where it can invade the nervous system. Many infected people have no symptoms, but do excrete the virus in their feces, hence transmitting infection to others. Polio can only be prevented by immunization.

One success story of polio eradication has happened in Somalia of all places. Somalia is celebrating three years of being polio-free since March 25, 2007. This is a historic achievement in public health because it happened in a politically unstable setting where conflict is rampant and there is little to no infrastructure. This amazing feat was made possible by tens of thousands Somali volunteers and health workers. These people risked their lives to get vaccines to more than 1.8 million children under five by going house to house in villages and settlements across the country.

- Clare O.

SOURCE: World Health Organization