Johannesburg (dpa) - The United Nations on Friday warned of rising
rates of malnutrition among Somalis in refugee camps in neighbouring
Ethiopia, as they escape drought, famine and conflict.
In the Dollo Ado refugee complex, screenings of new arrivals
revealed severe acute malnutrition in 19 per cent of children. The UN
considers a rate of more than 1 per cent to be "alarming."
UNHCR, the UN agency for refugees, said it would open new feeding
centres and improve awareness of access to health services. Workers
would also be tasked with looking for malnourished children who were
not enrolled in feeding programmes.
"Given the severity of the situation, UNHCR expects that
malnutrition rates will remain high for some weeks until the
situation stabilizes," the agency said in a statement.
More than 12 million people in the Horn of Africa are facing
starvation because of the worst drought in 60 years. Somalia is the
hardest-hit country, and others severely impacted are Djibouti,
Ethiopia and Kenya.
The UN has said it needs 2.4 billion dollars to assist the
affected countries. In August, African nations pledged 51 million
dollars for humanitarian relief efforts, at an African Union summit
in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
During a visit to Somali capital Mogadishu on Wednesday, the UN
high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, urged for more aid
from the international community.
"We are seeing here a deadly combination of conflict and drought
and the misery is out of proportion to what is being done," he said.
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