SITUATION OVERVIEW
The humanitarian situation in Somalia is rapidly deteriorating. Malnutrition and drought-related disease outbreaks are on the rise. AWD/Cholera has spread to 11 out of 18 regions, with a sharp increase during the month of February. Droughtrelated displacement nearly doubled from 62,000 newly displaced in January to 106,000 in February, according to UNHCR. This brings the number of people displaced by drought since November 2016 to over 250,000. Half of the population - 6.2 out of the 12.3 million people - are acutely food insecure and in need of humanitarian assistance.
Humanitarian partners are scaling up the response. Food Security cluster partners have more than doubled the number of people reached in February with improved access to food to 1.1 million people, up from 490,000 people in January. In addition, more than 105,000 people benefited from activities aimed at building livelihoods. More than 113,600 (78,510 female and 35,100 male) were provided with primary and secondary health care services. Health partners opened eight Cholera Treatment Centres (CTC) and six Cholera Treatment Units (CTU) in Middle Shabelle (2 CTCs and 3 CTUs), Lower Shabelle (3 CTCs and 3 CTUs), Hiraan (1CTC), Banadir (1 CTC) and Bay (1 CTC). As of end of February, some 568,600 people received temporary and/or sustainable access to safe water. Over 36,000 people were assisted with safe sanitation and some 498,000 people with hygiene promotion activities. Nearly 25,000 people were reached with protection services, while education partners reached 8,235 children. Close to 52,500 persons received shelter support packages in February, a significant increase from the 6,400 reached in January. Further scale-up is urgently required in the coming weeks.