Skip to main content

Somalia: Humanitarian Dashboard - August 2018 (issued on 17 September 2018)

Countries
Somalia
Sources
OCHA
Publication date

SITUATION OVERVIEW

The results of the post-Gu food security and nutrition assessment by FAO’s Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU) and the Famine Early Warning System Network (FEWSNET), have confirmed that the overall food security situation in Somalia has improved. This is as a result of the above-average Gu rainfall (April – June) and sustained humanitarian response and is likely to result in the most productive cereal harvest since 2010. While the number of people in need has declined from 5.4 million in February to 4.6 million, it is still higher than it was prior to the drought crisis two years ago. This is mainly driven by protection concerns, including an increase in internal displacement, forced evictions, gender based violence (GBV) and heightened levels of child recruitment. The nutrition outlook, while slowly improving, also remains bleak. High malnutrition rates prevail across the country, especially among the highly vulnerable IDP population. The nutrition status of children under age 5 remains largely unchanged. An estimated 294,000 children are acutely malnourished, among them 55,000 severely malnourished and in need of urgent life-saving treatment. The situation is predicted to worsen between August and October due to the limited availability of public health and nutrition services. By mid-September, the Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) had received $577 million.

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: To learn more about OCHA's activities, please visit https://www.unocha.org/.