UN appeals for $7.5 million to combat food crisis

The UN has issued a flash appeal for US $7.5 million to urgently provide food and water to thousands of drought-stricken people in the Horn of Africa nation. The appeal, made on Wednesday, follows an announcement last week by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) that an estimated 28,650 people in Djibouti were experiencing severe food and water shortages due to an extended drought. "The income of households [in Djibouti] is dependent almost entirely on the health and productivity of their livestock," OCHA said in a report. "Since livestock productivity has been undermined by the consecutive deteriorating seasons, household income and food access has been severely constrained." Djibouti’s government appealed for international help on 9 April and has already initiated an emergency water-provision programme in the southeastern Roadside Pastoral Sub-Zone, according to the OCHA report. "Because the drought is protracted, malnutrition is a major concern. Supplementary feeding is needed for 5,730 children," OCHA said, adding that given the nomadic nature of most of the affected populations, mobile health services were required for 5,000 people. The report said 50,000 heads of livestock urgently needed food, water and emergency veterinary care. OCHA said the UN, its NGO partners and the government of Djibouti needed to carry out a second, more comprehensive, joint multisectoral assessment of the situation.