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As drought tightens grip in Djibouti, UN agency focuses help on hungry children

As drought tightens grip in Djibouti, UN agency focuses help on hungry children

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The ripple effects from three poor rainy seasons and chronic drought in the Horn of Africa continue to widen as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent appeal for $2.5 million to assist almost 6,000 malnourished children in Djibouti over the next six months.

The ripple effects from three poor rainy seasons and chronic drought in the Horn of Africa continue to widen as the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has issued an urgent appeal for $2.5 million to assist almost 6,000 malnourished children in Djibouti over the next six months.

As part of the UN’s ongoing drought assistance plans in Djibouti, the WFP said it was planning to launch supplementary feeding to target some 6,000 children under the age of 5, some of the most-affected victims of the worsening drought, which has caused livestock deaths and a significant decline in milk production.

“Food prices continue to rise, and without meat or milk, a lot of families are on the edge,” said Fatma Samoura, WFP’s Country Director for Djibouti. “We can see the number of malnourished children is increasing. Our key objective is to assist these children and tackle malnutrition.”

WFP has already diverted funds destined to assist refuges, school-age children and people affected by HIV/AIDS to provide emergency assistance to drought victims. However, since there are only limited stocks of food available, donations are urgently required to continue providing support to both drought victims and impoverished groups.