Urgent funding required to feed thousands - WFP

An estimated 53,000 people in Djibouti could go without food rations unless the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) secures funding to continue providing aid, the agency warned on Tuesday.

The situation could be aggravated by high malnutrition rates. "Malnutrition among children younger than five is in fact a silent emergency in Djibouti, but we just don't have the funds to continue providing food to the most vulnerable," Benoit Thiry, WFP Djibouti country director, said.

A total of US$6 million is needed for operations in Djibouti until December 2007. About $1 million is required immediately to avoid interrupting distributions in May, just before the start of the dry season when many families face the most severe food shortages.

WFP said it would be forced to stop distributing food to more than 47,000 pastoralists affected by drought in April, if contributions are not received quickly. It would also be unable to feed 6,000 mainly Somali refugees in Djibouti who rely entirely on food aid, from May.

"It is vital that we get donations now," Thiry said. "The longer it takes to receive donations, the longer it will take to get the feeding programmes back on track."

A survey carried out in 2006 attributed the poor nutritional status of Djibouti infants and children mainly to frequent droughts, high unemployment and food prices that were beyond the means of most poor people.

One of the most striking findings was that the global acute malnutrition rate had risen to 20.4 percent from 17.9 percent in 2002, and severe acute malnutrition was 7.1 percent, against 5.9 percent in 2002. The UN World Health Organization considers a global acute malnutrition rate of 15 percent critical.

see also: Malnutrition a silent emergency

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