Key Figures on Somalia –3 August 2011

General Information

  • Famine has been declared in parts of Middle Shabelle, IDP settlements along the Afgooye Corridor, parts of Mogadishu hosting IDPs, Lower Shabelle and parts of Bakool

  • Famine is expected to spread across all regions of the south in the coming four to six weeks

  • Tens of thousands of people have died and many more lives are at risk

  • 3.7 million people, more than half the population, require humanitarian assistance – a 35% increase from 2.4 million in the beginning of the year

  • Cereal prices are at an all‐time high, with the cost of some commodities up by 270% in some areas in the south

  • The cost of the food basket has increased by 50% in the southern regions.

Malnutrition

  • 1.25 million children are in urgent need of malnutrition treatment – of these, 640,000 are acutely malnourished

  • The highest Global Acute Malnutrition Rate (GAM) in 18 surveys carried out recently exceeded 50% in Gedo and Bakool agropastoral areas (this is above the 15% WHO threshold)

  • Mortality rates have reached a high of 15 per 10,000 in children under 5 among Mogadishu IDPs

Displacement

  • Nearly one quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million people are displaced either within Somalia or to neighboring countries especially Kenya and Ethiopia

  • 27,000 people have been displaced into Mogadishu and its environs from other southern regions in July alone

  • A total 100,000 people were displaced into Mogadishu in June and July

  • 40,400 Somalis arrived in Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya in July – an average 1,300 people per day.

Funding

Consolidated Appeal for Somalia:

  • The revised CAP is seeking approximately US$1 billion, an increase from $561 in December 2010

  • Only 43% ‐ $453 million has been funded and an additional $49 million has been pledged.

Common Humanitarian Fund (CHF):

  • In 2011, $35 million of the $45 million available through the second Standard Allocation of the CHF was allocated to drought response activities focusing on food, livelihoods, water and health sectors

  • $13.6 million has been allocated through the emergency reserve for drought response from January 2011 to date.

Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF):

  • $15 million was allocated from the under‐funded window to address the drought situation in the most affected areas of south and central regions of Somalia

  • In July the CERF rapid response window released $28 million for the most immediate needs including access to food.

Contact Roberta Russo on russor@un.org or +254 733 643 737 and Rita Maingi on maingir@un.org or +254 734800 120