UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has said that famine will occur in October in parts of Somalia according to the latest food security and nutrition analysis.
Sadia Allin, Head of Mission for Plan International in Somalia and Somaliland said:
"It is devastating that we have reached the point where children in parts of Somalia are on the brink of famine. It should never have come to this. International action is needed more urgently than ever before. Children are already dying from hunger. Unless humanitarian aid is urgently and immediately stepped up, we face a situation where thousands more children will lose their lives needlessly and countless others will face other dangers and rights violations such as rape, violence and early marriage.
"Unless humanitarian aid is urgently and immediately stepped up... thousands more children will lose their lives."
Sadia Allin, Head of Mission for Plan International in Somalia and Somaliland
"As is so often the case, girls and young women will be the hardest hit by this crisis. When food is scarce, girls often eat less and they eat last. They are more likely than boys to be taken out of school to help find food, to face gender-based violence or to be married early to reduce the number of mouths their families need to feed.
"Nothing is more painful than for a mother to watch helplessly as her child is starving. We have met mothers who don't have a single grain to feed their children and have resorted to boiling water so the child will think they have a meal. Others have married their daughters as young as 14 in exchange for help.
"We have been fearing this situation for months. We now have a very brief window of time to save as many lives as possible. We urgently need more support from donors so that we can reach more children, especially girls, and their families before it's too late."