Situation Overview
The humanitarian situation is deteriorating at an alarming pace and the risk of famine in 2017 persists. Over 6.2 million people are in need of assistance and widespread drought-related displacement, mainly from rural to urban areas is on the increase, with more than 535,000 people displaced since November 2016. Baidoa and Mogadishu have received an estimated 100,000 and 107,000 displaced people, respectively, all in search of assistance. AWD/cholera continues to spread with alarming levels of Case Fatality Rates in some areas, above the emergency threshold of 1 percent. Over 22,000 cases of AWD/Cholera have been reported since the beginning of 2017. Over 3,800 suspected cases of measles have been reported in 2017. Protection concerns over gender-based violence, recruitment and use of children by armed forced or armed groups, unaccompanied/separated children, etc. are all on the rise, in particular in areas with high concentration of newly displaced such as Baidoa and Mogadishu.
Thanks to generous resources provided by donors, national NGOs, international NGOs and UN agencies are massively scaling up the humanitarian response throughout the country in coordination with authorities. The number of people reached with improved access to food has been increased to 1.7 million people, up by 62 per cent from 1.1 million people reached in February. The most significant scale-up took place in priority areas of Bakool, Bay, Galgaduud, Hiran, and Lower and Middle Shabelle regions, demonstrating the ability of humanitarian partners to scale up significantly in hard-to-reach areas. Food security partners also stepped up efforts to protect livestock assets of the drought affected communities across Somalia by providing emergency livestock treatment at scale. There is also a significant scale-up of nutrition services underway, with 332,000 children and women treated in March, hereof 69,000 children under five who were severely malnourished. A total of 225 new nutrition service delivery facilities have been set up since the beginning of 2017.
Humanitarian NGO and UN partners have also scaled up delivery of safe water and reached nearly 1,150,000 people from January to March with water trucking and supplies of storage tanks and bladders, more than doubling the number of people reached in February. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) and Health partners are working jointly with the AWD/Cholera Taskforce to contain the spread of the outbreak. Rehabilitation of boreholes and a hygiene promotion campaign for AWD/Cholera prevention and control at Cholera Treatment sites is ongoing and nearly 600,000 beneficiaries have been reached. More than 194,500 people, hereof 114,500 female and 80,000 male, were provided with primary and secondary health care services, an increase by 65 per cent from the 126,000 reached in February. As of 25 March, 52 AWD/cholera treatment facilities have been operationalized this year, mainly in South West, Hirshabelle, Jubbaland, Galmudug, and Banadir regions. Nearly 46,800 people were reached with protection services, while education partners reached 44,310 children with education and emergencies assistance. Close to 23,500 persons benefited from Shelter and NFI distribution in March.
While the scale-up is significant, the overall targets have not been met and the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, as reflected in the sharp increases in displacement and continued spreading of diseases. Further scale-up is urgently required in the coming weeks across all clusters. Taking into consideration the current levels of humanitarian assistance, food insecurity is projected to deteriorate further through June, the end of the agro-pastoral lean season, with only a slight improvement foreseen for July through September