The current human disaster in the Horn of Africa is intensified and directly associated with extreme weather events, requiring rapid action to address these serious humanitarian issues and save lives.
According to UN humanitarian agencies, climate, armed conflict, high food prices, and post-COVID-19 economic decline have exacerbated food insecurity in the Horn of Africa. Estimations show that five million children under the age of five are threatened by acute malnutrition in 2023 in the Horn region.
According to UN statistics, there are nearly 60 million severely food insecure people, including more than 15 million women of reproductive age, 5.6 million adolescent girls, and around 1.1 million pregnant women. Malnutrition among pregnant and lactating mothers puts their unborn and breast-feeding children at risk of malnutrition and spreads malnutrition through entire life cycles in communities. Besides, malnourished mothers cannot withstand complications in pregnancy, putting them at greater risk of losing their child. More importantly, pregnant women cannot go for antenatal care and do not attend to their other potential illnesses, increasing the risk of complications and subsequent maternal deaths.
The reports also reveal the hospitalization of the highest number of severely malnourished children suffering from medical complications since the beginning of the crisis. The current human disaster is intensified and directly associated with extreme climate events, necessitating prompt measures to address this serious humanitarian issues and save lives of people. The present unfavorable conditions have also increased the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, particularly of women and girls.