Washington DC, 25 July (TDI): The United States (US) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is providing an additional $476 million as vital humanitarian and development assistance to the people of Somalia.
This will help the country against the unexpected drought that has pushed more than 7 million people to the brink of starvation.
NEWS: The 🇺🇸 through USAID is providing an additional $476 million in critical humanitarian and development assistance to the people of Somalia as a historically unprecedented drought pushes more than 7 million people to the edge of starvation. https://t.co/0wvPFHVkfV
— USAID (@USAID) July 24, 2022
The crucial support from USAID will support Somalia as it experiences four consecutive seasons of drought. More than 200,000 people have been in danger of being hungry.
Furthermore, lives have been adversely affected nationwide due to multiple crises prevalent in the country, including the COVID-19 pandemic.
Moreover, many locust infestations and ongoing drought recovery have led to deaths. In addition, there are more frequent droughts occurring with great intensity as a result of climate change.
Furthermore, children from Somalia are most susceptible and likely to suffer the most from the crisis.
In line with the urgent supplies of food, USAID will offer cash for the people of Somalia to buy food staples from local markets.
USAID will offer community-level scanning to endorse early diagnosis of severe acute undernutrition. Especially in children in order to prevent further loss of life.
In addition, the funding will provide urgent health support and safe drinking water. Specifically to prevent disease exacerbated by hunger. Therefore, it includes expanded access to basic health services and rehabilitated health facilities.
USAID funds will provide hospitals and clinics with specialized peanut-based and corn-soya mixture nutritional supplements.
Most importantly, women and children will be provided with medical supplies, healthcare, and psychosocial support for survivors of gender-based violence and exploitation.
Thus, USAID is providing specialized training for healthcare staff to mitigate gender-based violence. Together with the creation of safe spaces and counseling for women and girls.
Particularly, with a special emphasis on communities displaced by the drought and child protection services, and family reunification assistance. Notably, these issues have frequently been made worse during emergencies like drought.
