Why does somalia suffer from famine

The locust outbreak originated in Yemen in December. Instead of dying out like expected, the locust numbers increased exponentially when nonseasonal rains allowed for breeding.

Adult locusts cause incredible damage to crops: they can eat their body weight daily and can fly up to 93 miles to find food. If they are not controlled, the loss of crops will be severe. Currently, Somalia plans to use biopesticides — a fungus which produces a toxin meant to only kill locusts and related grasshoppers — to get rid of the swarms. Somalia is suffering from a year-long drought. During this time, Somalia only had one proper rainy season.

Thus, in the drought became so bad it triggered a famine. For a famine to occur, three things must happen: a failure of food production, an inability to access food and a failure of governments and international donors to respond. First, the drought killed off crops and livestock, so people lost their income and purchasing power; they were no longer able to obtain food. Lastly, donors did not react quickly enough or provide as much aid as was needed — the U.

Consecutive years of poor rains and harvests have decimated crops across Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya. Families are dying not only from starvation, but also from diseases such as cholera and measles because they lack clean water and sanitation. More than half of the population live below the poverty line, making them even more vulnerable to climate shifts. In Somalia, approximately , children under the age of five are likely to be acutely malnourished, including nearly , who are likely to be severely malnourished through December Famine was last declared in Somalia six years ago, and more than , people died — more than half of them children.

Nearly half of the deaths occurred before the famine was even declared. Prevailing drought and armed conflict in have exacerbated displacement of women and girls in Somalia, further driving them into deprivation, poverty, and helplessness. Together with the Ministry of Health, it is also scaling up information to the public on how to prevent acute watery diarrhea through using water from safe sources, treatment of water, keeping good hygiene and clean surroundings.

Action Against Hunger's teams address the immediate and underlying causes of malnutrition. We improved access to nutrition treatment, education, and prevention measures to 76, people in Our teams also provided access to primary healthcare services to , people, improved access to clean water, safe sanitation, and good hygiene for , people, and supported 98, people through projects to improve food security and livelihoods.

All of this work was carried out in close partnerships with local community actors and government ministries. In response to the COVID pandemic, our teams launched new programs to raise awareness and provide community education, including through SMS and radio, and we integrated COVID prevention measures into health promotion activities.

Learn more about our programs in Somalia: Read our Capacity Statement here.