Somalia famine in 2010-12 'worst in past 25 years'
Nearly 260,000 people died in parts of Somalia between October 2010 and
April 2012, including 133,000 children
* Liz Ford <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/lizford>
* <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/> guardian.co.uk,
* Thursday 2 May 2013 13.29 BST
More than a quarter of a million people are estimated to have died during
the recent <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/famine> famine and
food crisis in <
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/somalia> Somalia, and more
than half were children under five, making it the worst famine in the past
25 years,
<
http://www.fews.net/docs/Publications/Somalia_Mortality_Estimates_Final_Rep
ort_1May2013_upload.pdf> according to figures published on Thursday (pdf).
A study, commissioned and funded by the Food and Agriculture Organisation's
(FAO) food security and nutrition analysis unit for Somalia (FSNAU) and the
famine early warning systems network (Fewsnet), estimated that 258,000
people died in southern and central parts of Somalia between October 2010
and April 2012, including 133,000 children under the age of five.
The figure is significantly higher than the death toll from the country's
1992 famine, during which an estimated 220,000 people died over 12 months,
although this famine was considered more severe because a higher percentage
of the population died.
The study suggests that 4.6% of the total population and 10% of children
under five died in southern and central Somalia over the crisis period.
Lower Shabelle, Mogadishu and the Bay area were hardest hit, with the number
of child deaths estimated to have reached 18%, 17% and 13% respectively.
Death rates peaked at 30,000 a month between May and August 2011. The UN
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/jul/20/un-declares-famine
-somalia> declared famine in two regions in Somalia - Bakool and Lower
Shabelle - in July 2011, following repeated warnings of an impending crisis
after severe drought and failed harvests. By August, the UN said
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/aug/03/somalia-famine-spr
eads-says-un> three more regions were
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/video/2011/nov/01/al-qaida-fam
ine-somalia-video> in a state of famine (video) - Middle Shabelle, Afgoye
and parts of Mogadishu. Other parts of Somalia, particularly the south, were
in the grip of a severe food crisis by this time, with high rates of acute
malnutrition.
The drought, the worst in the region for 60 years, led to livestock deaths,
reduced harvests, and drops in labour demand and household incomes. Poor
harvests drove food prices to extreme levels, said the report. The situation
was compounded by conflict and insecurity in Somalia, which impeded the
delivery of food aid. The Islamist group al-Shabaab was at war with the
government, and areas the group controlled were some of those worst affected
by the crisis.
The level of humanitarian assistance to Somalia had decreased between 2010
and 2011. Donors have been criticised for their slow response to the crisis.
Fewsnet and the FSNAU first warned of severe drought across the region in
August 2010 and, in March 2011, said famine was likely if the April to June
rains failed. They did.
However, major appeals for donations launched in September and October, a
drop in food prices and a successful rainy season meant that by November
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2011/nov/18/famine-eases-somal
ia-threat-remains> the situation had improved. The
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/03/famine-somalia-over-says-un> UN
declared an end to famine in February 2012.
The FSNAU/Fewsnet study covered all of southern and central Somalia, the
areas most affected by famine and food insecurity between 2010 and 2011. It
also assessed mortality rates among new Somali arrivals at
<
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/interactive/2011/sep/06/famine
-somalia-dadaab-refugee-interactive> Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya and at
Dollo Ado in Ethiopia.
Researchers drew on more than 200 mortality surveys carried out by the FSNAU
since 2007, including 61 from the emergency period, along with data on food
prices, wages, conflict, humanitarian assistance and epidemics.
The lead authors, Francesco Checchi, from the London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine in London, and Courtland Robinson, from Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, concluded that though their
study was not designed to investigate the cause of the high death rates,
"nevertheless, an obvious rational use of our estimates would be to ensure
that in Somalia and food security-related emergencies elsewhere, future
early warning and surveillance alerts do translate into tangible, immediate
relief interventions to support livelihoods, health and nutrition in the
affected communities."
Chris Hillbruner, decision support adviser for Fewsnet, said: "Estimating
mortality in emergencies is an imprecise science, but given the quantity and
quality of data that were available, we are confident in the strength of the
study. It suggests that what occurred in Somalia was one of the worst
famines in the last 25 years."
Senait Gebregziabher, country director of Oxfam Somalia, said the number of
deaths could, and should, have been prevented. "Such a shocking death toll
must never be allowed to happen again," she said.
"Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political
failures. The world was too slow to respond to stark warnings of drought,
exacerbated by conflict, in Somalia, and people paid with their lives."
Ben Foot, Somalia country director for Save the Children, said: "While
conditions in Somalia have improved in recent months, the country still has
one of the highest rates of child malnutrition and infant mortality in the
world."
<
http://www.oxfamblogs.org/eastafrica/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/bp-dangerou
s-delay-horn-africa-drought-180112-en.pdf> A Dangerous Delay (pdf), a report
published last year by Save the Children and Oxfam, showed how the
international community's slow response to the famine cost tens of thousands
of lives.
On Tuesday, a conference in London will discuss Somalia's future, with the
aim to provide international support for the government to rebuild the
country.
Gebregziabher said the conference must invest in the country's long-term
development, creating jobs, supporting farmers and pastoralists and ensuring
trained, accountable security forces.
"It is crucial that women and men from across Somalia are involved in a
bottom-up process to determine the country's future. Top down 'solutions'
don't work. The country is crying out for just and sustainable peace, and
the new government must grab this moment to secure it," she said.
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Received on Thu May 02 2013 - 21:19:48 EDT
