Photo HNGN.com
The world is facing its largest
humanitarian crisis since 1945, the United Nations says, issuing a plea for
help to avoid "a catastrophe".
UN humanitarian chief Stephen O'Brien said
that more than 20 million people faced the threat of starvation and famine in
Yemen, Somalia, South Sudan and Nigeria.
Unicef has already warned 1.4m children
could starve to death this year.
Kenya, Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia are
four countries facing incredible hardship and famine according to the UN who
today have urged the international community for comprehensive action to save
people from simply “starving to death.”
A senior UN official said that, about
two-thirds of the population (more than 18 million people) in Yemen needed
assistance, including more than seven million severely food insecure, and the
fighting continued to worsen the crisis.
In South Sudan, where a famine was recently
declared, more than 7.5 million people are in need of assistance, including
some 3.4 million displaced. The figure rose by 1.4 million since last year, the
famine in the country is man-made.
“We
stand at a critical point in history. Already at the beginning of the year we
are facing the largest humanitarian crisis since the creation of the UN,” UN
Emergency Relief Coordinator Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council today.
Without collective and coordinated global
efforts, he warned, people risk starving to death and succumbing to disease,
stunted children and lost futures, and mass displacements and reversed
development gains.
Similarly, more than half the population of
Somalia (6.2 million people) is need aid, 2.9 million of who require immediate
assistance. Extremely worrying is that more than one million children under the
age of five are at the risk of acute malnourishment.
“The current indicators mirror the tragic
picture of 2011, when Somalia last suffered a famine,” recalled the UN
official, but expressed hope that a famine can be averted with strong national
leadership and immediate and concerted support by the international community.
Concerning Kenya, he mentioned that more
than 2.7 million people were food insecure, and that this number could reach
four million by April.
“In collaboration with the Government [of
Kenya], the UN will soon launch an appeal of $200 million to provide timely
life-saving assistance and protection,” he informed.
No comments:
Post a Comment