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Somali children likely to suffer from acute malnutrition – UNICEF

United Nations, Feb 15 (Prensa Latina) More than 1.4 million children in Somalia, nearly half of the country´s under-five population, are likely to suffer from acute malnutrition due to the ongoing drought that has left 4.1 million people on the brink, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Tuesday.

Over 1.4 million children under five are now at risk and without urgent scaling up of assistance, the humanitarian situation among the urban and rural poor and displaced populations is expected to deteriorate further between now and June 2022, UNICEF said in a report released.

About 4.1 million Somalis are currently in need of humanitarian assistance, and it is time to act as soon as possible, UNICEF stressed.

According to UNICEF´s Communications Chief in Somalia Victor Chinyama, if the international community waits for famine to be declared, it will probably be too late, as it was in 2011.

Most of mortality happens before famine is declared and as malnutrition begins to be reported and then worsens with an outbreak such as measles or cholera, mortality skyrockets off the bat, Mr. Chinyama stated.

As reported on Tuesday by the special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Somalia James Swan, security, political and humanitarian conditions in Sudan continue too fragile.

Mr. swan told the UN Security Council (UNSC) that Sudan’s elections are now more than a year behind the schedule set down by the constitution.

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