Half of all children living in displacement camps in southwest Somalia are now acutely malnourished, and aid workers say the worst may be yet to come.

A devastating picture is emerging from Somalia, where the malnutrition crisis among displaced children has reached alarming levels.

According to Doctors Without Borders (MSF), about 50 per cent of children living in displacement sites in the southwest are now suffering from acute malnutrition, driven by prolonged drought, worsening food insecurity and a sharp drop in humanitarian funding.

As reported by cbinews.tv, the charity has screened more than 21,000 children under the age of five in Baidoa since January, finding malnutrition rates of around 50 per cent. The situation has become so critical that MSF has had to expand its nutrition ward to cope with the influx of severely ill children.

MSF Medical Coordinator Mitchell Sangma did not mince words about the scale of the emergency:

"It has not been an understatement when I say that a severe humanitarian emergency is unfolding right now in Baidoa and across the country. There's an ongoing drought... over half a million people have already been displaced... Ninety percent of these displacements are driven by drought, and an overwhelming 80 percent of these populations are mostly the most vulnerable women and children."

The figures are backed by the United Nations, which says more than 500,000 Somalis were displaced in the first three months of this year alone, with drought responsible for nine out of ten displacements.

Aid agencies are now warning that without an urgent increase in international support, cases of malnutrition and preventable deaths will continue to climb.

Credit: cbinews.tv

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