A field worker walks across the dry ground to a dust-covered tent. She crouches down next to a mother who, avoiding her gaze, holds up the arm of her little girl for measurement. Even before placing the plastic band around the girl’s stick-thin arm, the field worker knows severe malnourishment when she sees it. Starvation has taken hold of this child.
Why is Somalia STILL in a Food Crisis?
Somalia is experiencing a severe hunger crisis. This blog post was written two years ago, but the situation has only gotten worse. There has been little to no rain for years now in Somalia, and children are dying because of it.
Where there is no water, there is no food.
A short rainy season in 2016 led to a poor harvest, and the rains have not returned since. In some parts of Somalia, it’s been two years since they’ve seen any rainfall. Without rain, the soil cannot support crops or grass to feed the livestock that herders depend on for their income and meals. Animals have died and food is scarce.
With years of crop failures and few livestock remaining, the cost of food has increased exponentially while the availability of food is decreasing at the same rate. The lack of available food creates high levels of food insecurity among the majority of the Somali population.
What’s World Concern Doing to Help in Somalia?
Without food and proper nutrition, children, especially the youngest ones, have not been able to grow and develop normally. Rural communities suffer the most, and many mothers are desperate to feed their starving children.
World Concern offers a simple and extremely effective solution for malnourished children in Somalia. A daily packet filled with a powerful peanut-based paste is saving lives.
One packet contains many of the vitamins, minerals, and vital nutrients a child needs to grow healthy and strong. The paste is also gentle enough that it will not cause pain or discomfort when a child, who has not had proper nutrition in months, begins to eat it.
From the moment a child begins to take an emergency nutrition packet once a day, her health begins to improve.
After a month of taking these packets, the changes in a child become more and more noticeable. Distended tummies begin to recede, small faces begin to fill out, and mothers aren’t woken up by the cries of their baby’s hunger during the night.
Due to the food crisis plaguing Somalia, kids need this nutrition immediately. If a child is severely malnourished for more than a month, their chance of making a full recovery diminishes. The good news is, help is available in these powerful nutripackets, which begin to work immediately.