UNICEF Somalia Fast Facts - January 2013

Report from UN Children's Fund

Published on 31th January 2013

THE SITUATION

For two decades Somalia has experienced violence, conflict and lawlessness which have exacerbated poverty and hardship, undermined social and economic development and made it challenging for the international community to address humanitarian and development priorities.

Consecutive years of harsh droughts and ongoing conflict have resulted in repeated crop failure, depleted livestock, rising food prices and deteriorating purchasing power.

These have eroded coping mechanisms and triggered a long running state of emergency in Somalia. By July 2011 the situation deteriorated into one of the worst famines experienced in decades.

The overall nutritional situation has improved since the famine officially ended in February 2012 as a result of significant humanitarian efforts and a good harvest.

The Quarterly Food Security and Nutrition brief (Dec 2012) says the food security and nutrition situation in Somalia will continue improving in the first half of 2013 and the population in food security crisis will reduce. Most livelihoods in Somalia are likely to be classified as Stressed requiring programmes for disaster risk reduction, protecting livelihoods and building resilience.

Internally Displaced Persons in settlements in the North and Central with limited access to food will remain in food security crisis and will require humanitarian assistance. The nutrition situation in the South, in a few areas in the North and in the central regions is likely to remain Critical to Very Critical mostly due to underlying causes of malnutrition such as lack of health infrastructure, poor feeding practices and expected seasonal outbreaks of Acute Watery Diarrhea.

Currently, a third of the population (2.12 million people) is still in crisis and needs emergency assistance – over 70 percent are in the South. A further 1.7 million have only emerged from crisis in the past year, and could easily fall back without support to maintain their livelihoods. Some 236,000 of the total population of 1.5 million under the age of five are acutely malnourished, of these 54,000 are severely malnourished. And more than 1.1 million Somalis are internally displaced, often living in deplorable conditions.

Critical Issues affecting Children and Women in Somalia

• The child and maternal mortality rates for Somalia are amongst the highest in the world; one in every ten children dies before seeing their first birthday and 12 in every 1000 women die due to  complications related to child birth.

• Somalia is ranked one of the world’s lowest in terms of immunization coverage rates.

• In most regions of the south, 1 in 5 children is acutely malnourished and 1 in 15 is severely  malnourished, at exceptionally high risk of death.

• Only 30% of the overall population has access to safe water and only 20% in the worst affected  areas of the south.

• About 1.1 million people are internally displaced; close to 60% of them are children.

• The gross enrollment rate at primary school level is just over 33% and 75% of women are illiterate.

• Almost all women aged 15 to 49 years (98%) have been subjected to female genital  mutilation/cutting (FGM/C).

• Persistent recruitment and use of children as young as nine in armed conflict.

UNICEF EMERGENCY RESPONSE

• UNICEF humanitarian action involves rapid response, preparedness, investment in early recovery as well as building communities’ resilience to disasters to reduce their exposure to risk.  
• The rapid scale-up of humanitarian activities enabled UNICEF to more than double the number of children treated for malnutrition. This year UNICEF-supported nutrition centres admitted almost 396,000 malnourished children (of which more than 218,000 were severely malnourished) - the vast majority in the Central South Zone of Somalia (CSZ). A total of 38,000 households, including some 45,000 children under five have received support in wet feeding sites along border areas. Over 180,000 households have received at least one monthly supplementary food ration in accessible areas of southern Somalia through the UNICEF supported Blanket Supplementary Feeding Programme.  
• Basic equipment, essential medicines, medical supplies and running costs were provided to partners operating 148 Maternal and Child Health centres (MCH) and 236 Health Posts with a coverage area of an estimated 1.8 million people in CSZ.  
• Since the beginning of 2012, 764,000 children aged between 9 months and 5 years have been vaccinated against measles in CSZ. 
• 997,000 people in CSZ gained access to water through sustained (161,000) and temporary interventions (836,000) such as: construction and rehabilitation of water points, operation and maintenance and chlorination.  
• Some 140,000 people gained access to sanitation facilities in 2012, mainly in IDP camps and host communities, including 60,000 people in Puntland and Somaliland who are now living in villages with no open defecation. 
• UNICEF and partners are supporting an estimated 207,912 children (including 90,552 girls) in  652 schools. These schools have 5,121 teachers (1,047 female) managing the classrooms.  During the 2011/12 school year, UNICEF supported 386,657 with 43% girls.  
• 26,000 households received fuel efficient stoves helping to lower the risk of sexual violence,  often perpetrated against women collecting firewood. 
• 950 children formally associated with armed conflict and at risk of recruitment were enrolled in  reintegration programmes.