Today in Somalia, every single minute of every single day, a child is admitted to a health facility for treatment of severe acute malnutrition. The latest admission rates from August show 44,000 children admitted with severe acute malnutrition. That is a child per minute.
“A child whose mother has walked for days to get her child to help. A child whose body is fighting to survive. A child whose life hangs in the balance.
“Severely malnourished children are up to 11 times more likely to die of diarrhoea and measles than well-nourished children. With rates such as these, Somalia is on the brink of a tragedy at a scale not seen in decades.
“And, of course, the children behind this staggering, appalling statistic are those who actually make it to a treatment centre. In a country where access to the most vulnerable is continually hampered by terrorism and threats to aid workers, we fear many thousands more children are not reaching the support they need.
Source: UNICEF
