ReliefWeb

Highlights

• Despite the onset of the Gu rains, the food security and nutrition situation in Somalia continues to deteriorate and an elevated risk of famine in 2017 persists.

• In April, WFP reached 2.3 million beneficiaries – over four times the number of people reached in January – with emergency food and cash-based assistance.

Situation Update

• Large-scale humanitarian assistance has reduced household food consumption gaps while the Gu rains are gradually increasing pasture and water availability in most parts of Somalia. Even so, there remains an elevated risk of Famine (IPC Phase 5) due to the combination of severe food consumption gaps, high acute malnutrition, high disease burden, and reliance on humanitarian assistance.

• The number of people in need of humanitarian assistance has increased to 6.7 million people, up from 5 million in August 2016. According to the latest projections by the FAO-managed Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit (FSNAU), a total of 3.2 million people are expected to face Crisis and Emergency (IPC Phases 3 and 4) levels of food insecurity through June. Food security is expected to further deteriorate over the coming months with improvements not expected in some of the worst affected areas until August or September at the earliest.

• Rains have subsided in most of the districts in Lower and Middle Shabelle regions (including Jowhar, Wanlaweyne, Adale and Afgoye) thus opening up key supply corridor that were temporarily rendered impassable at the onset of rains. However, Marka and Barowe districts are still experiencing torrential rains affecting the supply corridors from Mogadishu and driving up prices of commodities in these districts.