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Somalia

UNICEF Somalia Humanitarian Situation Report #10: 1 to 31 October 2018

Attachments

Highlights

• An estimated 177,174 children with life threatening severe acute malnutrition (SAM) were treated from January to October 2018. The children reached represent 102 per cent of the overall UNICEF 2018 planning target of 173,000 SAM children.

• A UNICEF-supported inter-agency assessment found 102 children, all boys, reported to be associated with the Puntland forces in Tukaraq military base, in need of further screening and separation from the military.

• Increased conflict has triggered a new wave of more than 34,000 people being displaced into Banadir region from the Lower Shabelle region since the beginning of August.
Subsequently, thousands of internally displaced families within the Al-Fatow internally displaced persons (IDP) settlements of Mogadishu, many originating from Lower and Middle Shabelle, were evicted on 7 October, further aggravating needs of displaced in Banadir.

Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs

Despite improvements resulting from increased rainfall and sustained humanitarian action, significant needs persist in Somalia, particularly among internally displaced populations. Residual impacts of drought, ongoing displacement, conflict and marginalization continue to affect the most vulnerable. As per the FSNAU-FEWSNET 2018 Post Gu findings, 4.6 million people are still in need of humanitarian assistance, including an estimated 2.7 million children. The nutrition situation remains of concern with 954,000 children under-5 projected to be acutely malnourished from August 2018 to September 2019, including 173,000 expected to be suffering from SAM. An upsurge in insecurity and conflict has triggered a new wave of displacement in the Lower Shabelle region of South West state over the last few months. More than 34,000 people have fled Lower Shabelle since the beginning of August, adding to the more than 2.6 million people displaced in country, including over 1 million in the last year alone. The majority of the displaced are women and children. Over 4.4 million people need humanitarian WASH services, with 3.5 out of 5 people without adequate safe water to meet basic needs. More than 5.7 million people require basic health services, including critical needs in maternal and child health, as one in eight Somali children die before the age of 5. Disease outbreaks such as acute watery diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera and measles continue to represent a major threat to children with 8,002 suspected measles cases (73 per cent being children under-5) and 6,206 suspected cases of AWD/cholera with 42 deaths reported in 2018. Over 3 million children, out of 4.9 million in the country, are estimated to be out of school. The growing trend of forced evictions continues - between January and October 2018, close to 235,000 IDPs have been evicted in Somalia. On average, over 11,000 IDPs are evicted every month, and many have been subject to multiple evictions. Exclusion and discrimination of socially marginalized groups continue to exacerbate high levels of acute humanitarian needs. Mass recruitment of children remains a major protection concern.

According to the Country Task Force on Monitoring and Reporting on grave violations against children, 693 children (682 boys; 11 girls) were recruited in September 2018, with September accounting for half of the recruitment caseload.