BAIDOA- 110 people had starved to death in the southwestern Bay region alone, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Khaire announced on Saturday.
Prime Minister Hassan Khaire told the nation’s drought committee that since the President declared the humanitarian crisis a national disaster on Tuesday, over 100 people have died from hunger in the last 48 hours.
The sombre announcement underscores the severity of the humanitarian crisis as Somalia struggles to slip into a full-blown famine. The UN estimates that 6.2 million Somali’s, or roughly half of the total population are in need of relief aid.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network estimates that there are 363,000 acutely malnourished children who “need urgent treatment and nutrition support” and 71,000 children who are severely malnourished.
The worsening drought in the region has led to cholera outbreaks in the Bay region as well and local administrators are asking for emergency aid from the government and international partners to contain the outbreak.
In recent days, thousands of people have begun arriving in the capital city Mogadishu in search of food aid; one feeding centre took in more than 7,000 internally displaced people.
The death toll comes as the UN migration agency appealed for an additional $24.6 million dollars for the drought in Somalia.
