Sharon Siwale-Fumbeshi

Sharon Siwale-Fumbeshi
Me, Myself and I

Monday, 14 November 2011

Kuwait funds UNICEF for drought affected areas in Somalia




NEW YORK, 10 November 2011 - The State of Kuwait has contributed 250 thousand US dollars to UNICEF in Somalia for humanitarian response to the continuing food crisis. The support was announced by His Excellency Mr. Mansour Ayyad Al-Otaibi, Permanent Representative of Kuwait to the United Nations.

Somalia sits at the centre of a region suffering from a deadly combination of the worst drought in six decades, soaring food prices and now escalating conflict in southern Somalia. Thousands have already died and more than 13 million people still need humanitarian assistance across the region.

UNICEF and its partners over the past several months have saved the lives of thousands of children in the Horn of Africa, Some 110,000 severely malnourished children were treated at UNICEF-supported centres across the Horn. So far, UNICEF has vaccinated 1.2 million children against measles, including 1 million in South and Central Somalia. More than 2.6 million people were provided with access to safe water across the Horn and over 1.5 million were reached with hygiene awareness and supplies.

Since the beginning of July, UNICEF has transported more than 24,000 metric tons of life-saving supplies to Somalia, with 140 chartered flights, on 106 vessels and 90 trucks – ready to use therapeutic foods for 350,000 children and supplementary food for 350,000 families.

UNICEF is one of just a few organizations still operating in South and Central Somalia, working with more than 120 partners to reach hundreds of thousands of children and their families. Between July and the end of October, a total of 85,300 families, or 512,000 people, received blanket supplementary feeding in southern Somalia. Another 236,000 people including 47,000 children received prepared meals in Somalia between July and October.

However, despite increased humanitarian operations and som

No comments:

Post a Comment