Child malnutrition in parts of the north

About 20 percent of the children in the drought-affected northern Somali regions of Sool and Sanaag are believed to be malnourished, a study by the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in February found. In its monthly review of the situation in Somalia for March, UNICEF said the results of screening some 7,457 children had shown that about 1,490 were moderately malnourished and 126 severely malnourished. "Overall, about 20 percent of the children are malnourished," it said. UNICEF added that it had signed an agreement with an NGO, Action Contre La Faim, to carry out a nutrition survey in Garowe, Dangorayo and Burtinle districts of the Nugal Region in Puntland. UNICEF is also supporting the screening of children for malnutrition in the Bay and Bakool regions, and in the capital, Mogadishu. Humanitarian agencies began an emergency intervention in Sool and Sanaag in January, targeting 90,000 people. This followed severe drought, which had led to large-scale food insecurity among pastoral populations there. At the time, however, no widespread disease outbreaks or malnutrition had yet been reported. In March, the EC- and USAID-funded Food Security Analysis Unit (FAO/FSAU) Somalia and the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Network (FEWS-Net) Somalia, warned in an update that food insecurity in the pastoral areas of north and central Somalia has worsened as the harsh, dry Jilaal season [January-March] progressed. The update said about 95,000 pastoralists were facing "a humanitarian emergency" and another 123,000 "a livelihood crisis". It added that both groups required immediate humanitarian assistance to prevent deaths, rising malnutrition and/or livelihood collapse, noting that areas in the "humanitarian emergency" category had expanded to cover most of Garowe and northwestern parts of Eyl districts. If the April -June rains failed, the FSAU and FEWS-Net said, the situation in the pastoral areas of northern and central Somalia would escalate to a large-scale humanitarian emergency in terms of severity and magnitude. Meanwhile, various items donated by China last year are being distributed to disadvantaged communities and vulnerable children and women, mainly in camps around Somalia's towns, the UNICEF Somalia Representative, Jesper Morch, said in a separate statement on 1 April. Worth US $66,000, the donation included mosquito nets, weighing scales, blankets and aluminium cooking pots.