Drought in Somalia already leaves seven million people on the brink of famine

MADRID, 24 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has warned this Sunday that more than seven million people are on the verge of famine due to the catastrophic drought that is hitting almost twenty regions of Somalia.

The United Nations estimates, in this sense, that almost half of the population (almost eight million people) needs humanitarian aid, and that 918,000 have been forced to leave their homes in search of water, food or pasture, including minority groups. .

Likewise, the UN warns that 17 districts of the country face a "reasonable possibility of famine" while harvests continue to deteriorate, food prices continue to rise, and the delivery of humanitarian aid is becoming an "unsustainable" task.

The child population is the first victim of this famine: one and a half million suffer from "acute malnutrition", and one in eight children die in the country before their fifth birthday.

"Without an increase in assistance, the drought will lead to a population exodus, accompanied by contagious diseases and human rights violations in the country," the UN concludes.