Attachments
Highlights
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Northeast and central regions of Somalia experienced significantly drier and higher than normal temperatures in March. Water prices are at twice the five-year average (FSNAU) with humanitarian partners increasing efforts in emergency water trucking to support affected communities.
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UNICEF reached 30,200 IDP beneficiaries with temporary safe water through water trucking in Baidoa town in Bay region.
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A total of 392 children formerly associated with armed forces and groups are under the care of UNICEF-supported reintegration programmes.
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Funding shortfalls across all sectors, with UNICEF facing a 78 per cent funding gap is currently affecting UNICEF and partners' ability to scale up and respond preventively to women and children's most basic needs across vulnerable communities.
SITUATION IN NUMBERS
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4.2 million People in need of humanitarian assistance (2019 Humanitarian Needs Overview)
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903,100 Estimated children under five years likely to face acute malnutrition in 2019, including 138 200 children with SAM
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3 million Children estimated to be out of school (2019 Humanitarian Action for Children)
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2.6 million People internally displaced throughout Somalia
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
Children in Somalia continue to live in one of the harshest places in the world to be a child, faced with repeated climate shocks, continued conflict, displacement and violence. As of January 2019, over 4.2 million people, including 2.5 million children, needed humanitarian assistance and protection.2 Over 1.5 million people were expected to require emergency nutrition support and treatment, with 903,100 children aged under-5 projected to be acutely malnourished from August 2018 to September 2019, including 138,000 severely malnourished.3 By December 2018, over three million children, out of 4.9 million in the country, were estimated to be out of school,4 including 1.85 million school aged children who require urgent assistance. There are also an estimated 2.6 million people displaced in Somalia, including over one million in the last year alone,5 with women and children representing the majority of the displaced. Drought related displacements are reported to be increasing in Somaliland and Puntland6 . Exclusion and discrimination of socially marginalized groups continue to exacerbate elevated levels of acute humanitarian needs.
The 2018 Deyr season was below average to poor in many parts of Somalia. As a result, the northeast and central regions of Somalia were impacted with significantly drier and higher than normal temperatures.7 Increases in the price per litre of water were observed with humanitarian partners increasing efforts in emergency water trucking to support affected communities as a temporary measure. The dry conditions are expected to continue with the overall humanitarian situation expected to worsen until the Gu rainy season starts which is due in April 2019.8
The Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) was launched in January 2019 and seeks US$ 1.08 billion to provide life-saving assistance and livelihood support to 3.4 million Somalis affected by conflict, climatic shocks and displacement across the country.9 For 2019, UNICEF is appealing for US$ 145.3 million to sustain the provision of life-saving services including critical nutrition, health, WASH, child protection and education in emergency interventions, as well as cash-based assistance for women and children in Somalia.