The humanitarian situation in Somalia is dire and the country is struggling to cope with the triple effect of COVID-19, the desert locust infestation and flooding, drought has also been declared in the country.
Currently funding is at its lowest in six years, as of today only US 810.6mill has been received out of the US1.09bill required for the humanitarian response plan.
Iman Abdullahi: CARE SOMALIA/SOMALILAND COUNTRY DIRECTOR
“We are greatly worried about the current funding situation in Somalia, at a time when the country is facing the triple threat of COVID-19, the desert locust infestation and flooding, funding for the humanitarian response is only 25% funded and at its lowest in 6 years. We fear the worst if the country does not get urgent funding to scale up responses. According to the UN, if the current response is not sustained, 1 million people will not receive their monthly food assistance reversing recent food security and nutrition gains, more than 1.7 million people will not have access to safe water and lack adequate sanitation and over 205,500 people, including girls and boys, will not benefit from protection services. CARE reached over 2 million people with lifesaving assistance in 2020 and we are aiming to provide more assistance to affected communities but this can only be achieved with support from our partners and relevant stakeholders, without early funding, humanitarian partners will be unable to address the situation, and progress achieved over the last decade will be destroyed. The cost of inaction is high!”
For more information on CARE’s work in Somalia Contact:
Rachel Kent
Senior Press Officer
Rachel.Kent@care.org
