Somalia: Humanitarian Dashboard -January 2017 (issued on 27 February 2017)

SITUATION OVERVIEW

Humanitarian assistance continued across the country. In January, an estimated 500,000 people received food assistance, and more than 73,000 others were reached with activities aimed at building livelihoods. From August 2016 to January 2017, some 2 million people received livelihood seasonal inputs such as seeds, tools, fi shing equipment, irrigation vouchers and livestock distribution and vaccination. In January, nearly 14,300 malnourished children under age 5 were admitted into nutrition programmes. More than 108,000 Somalis received basic health services in January, while some 157,200 people were provided with temporary and/or sustainable access to safe water. Over 12,500 people were assisted with safe sanitation and some 60,000 people were reached with hygiene promotion activities. Nearly 62,000 people were reached with protection services, while education partners reached some 29,000 learners with teaching activities and school feeding programmes. An estimated 6,400 people were assisted with non-food items in January and another 6,600 with transitional shelter.

The humanitarian situation in Somalia is rapidly deteriorating as drought conditions worsen. Malnutrition and drought-related disease outbreaks and distress migration are already on the rise. Famine is a strong possibility in 2017, just six years after a devastating famine led to the death of more than a quarter million Somalis – half of them children. Humanitarian partners are scaling up assistance and protection and have issued an Operational Plan for Famine Prevention to immediately scale up humanitarian response to save lives and protect livelihoods. The plan refl ects a signifi cant shift from the drought response, which has been ongoing since late 2015, to scaled-up famine prevention