Informing humanitarians worldwide 24/7 — a service provided by UN OCHA

Somalia + 2 more

Horn of Africa Drought Response Issue No. 08 (31st January 2018)

Attachments

CONTEXT HIGHLIGHTS

The Horn of Africa has been hotter and drier than normal in January following an early cessation of seasonal rains around mid-December. This is likely to result in further deterioration of pasture and water resources, most notably in pastoral and marginal agricultural areas of Somalia, Ethiopia and parts of northern Kenya. Humanitarian needs are expected to remain significant, an estimated 7.4 million (latest figure) in Ethiopia, 6.2 million in Somalia and 3.4 million in Kenya will require food assistance in the first half of 2018.

  1. Somalia remains one of the top ten countries with the highest prevalence of malnutrition in the world. 1.2 million children will continue to be malnourished including 48,000 children with life-threatening severe malnutrition in the next one year. According to UNICEF, USD 1.1 million is needed in the beginning of 2018 to treat 3.5 million children in Ethiopia for moderate acute malnutrition and 333,500 for severe acute malnutrition. In Kenya the ministry of health confirmed a new measles and malaria outbreak in Daadab and Marsabit in November 2017 affecting 1,260 people.

  2. The Government of Kenya has predicted that six counties are in alarm drought status and worsening, five counties are in alert drought status. Only 50% of Kenya’s 23 ASAL counties are experiencing normal drought status. There is an estimate that the number of people severely food insecure will reduce from 3.4 million to around 2 million people.

  3. In Somalia, lower than expected Deyr rains have been received in Sool, Toghdeer and Sanaag regions. Although falling short of expectations, this provided some relief to drought conditions. Due to the significant livestock loss during the last 3 years of recurrent drought, rains will not suffice to enable households to re-establish a pastoralist livelihood.

  4. Conflict remains one of the key drivers of displacement in the Horn of Africa.
    In Somalia 2.1 million are internally displaced, as of November 2017 an estimated 1.1 million in Ethiopia have been displaced and in Kenya 15,957 children are reportedly displaced by the drought.

  5. Diseases outbreak are expected to continue into 2018 across the Horn of Africa due to unmet humanitarian needs. Reports indicate a rise of measles cases in Somalia and Ethiopia while AWD cases have declined in the two countries. People at risk in Ethiopia are estimated at 6 million and Somalia at 4.3 million. In Kenya 3,304 cases and 60 deaths have been reported to date however cholera cases have stabilized in the recent past.

  6. According to OCHA humanitarian funding needs exceeded US$ 3.5B despite the generous support from donors in 2017. The recently launched Somalia HRP is underfunded at 97.9%, while Unicef requires US $1.1M to meet the humanitarian needs of 3.5 million children in Ethiopia. With needs still remaining high into 2018, funding levels will need to be sustained and where feasible increased.