UNICEF warns of the "catastrophic" figures of children who may die in Africa if they do not receive urgent support

MADRID, 23 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has warned this Tuesday that the smallest and most vulnerable in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel could die in catastrophic numbers if they do not receive urgent support to combat hunger and diseases transmitted by the Water.

"History shows that when high levels of malnutrition in children are combined with deadly outbreaks of diseases such as cholera or diarrhoea, child mortality rises tragically and dramatically," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell.

"In the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, millions of children are just one disease away from catastrophe," Russell recalled on the occasion of World Water Week.

In Totoral, more than 2.8 million children in both regions already suffer from severe acute malnutrition, which means that they have up to eleven times more risk of dying from waterborne diseases than well-nourished children.

The number of people affected by drought and without safe access to safe drinking water in Horn of Africa countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia has increased from 9.5 million in February to 16.2 million in July. Most of those who live there depend on water delivered by trucks or donkey carts.

In Kenya, 23 districts have seen significant price increases compared to January 2021; especially in the Mandera region, with a rise of 400 percent, followed by Garisa, of 260 percent.

In Ethiopia, the cost of water in June this year has doubled in Oromia and increased by 50 percent in Somali compared to the start of the drought in October 2021.

In Somalia, the average price of water is up 85 percent in South Mudug, as well as 55 and 75 percent in Buurhakaba and Ceel Berde, respectively, compared to prices in January 2022. Diarrhea and cholera outbreaks have been reported in almost all drought-affected districts, with 8,200 cases reported between January and June, more than double the number last year.

Meanwhile, in the Sahel region, drought and armed conflict in places like Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger and Nigeria are causing some 40 million children to face high or extremely high levels of water vulnerability.

Across the Sahel, water availability has also been reduced by more than 40 percent in the last 20 years due to climate change and other factors such as armed conflict. Last year, West and Central Africa saw the region's worst cholera outbreak in six years, including 5,610 cases and 170 related deaths.

"The only way to stop this crisis is for governments, donors and the international community to increase funding to meet children's most acute needs and provide flexible, long-term support to break the cycle of crisis," Russell said. .