UNICEF helps avert a famine in Somalia in 2017

By the end of 2017, the prolonged drought in Somalia had left 6.2 million people, including 3.4 million children in need of humanitarian assistance. At the height of the crisis, the country was on the verge of slipping into another famine however there was a massive and early response led by the Somali Government and supported by partners and donors including Canada, China, Denmark, the UK Department for International Development, the European Commission - Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid Operations - ECHO, Japan, Sweden, United Nations CERF and the US Agency for International Development.

For UNICEF, 2017 was a year of results:

• 270,000 children with severe acute malnutrition were reached with treatment. Nearly all recovered.
• 1.3 million women and children received emergency health services, 500,000 of them were internally displaced persons.
• 1.8  million people had temporary access to clean water, and 733,000 people gained access to sustainable water sources.
• 174,000 children had safe learning opportunities amidst drought, many for the first time in their lives.
• 4,200 unaccompanied and separated children and 4,000 victims of gender-based violence were supported with vital services.
• 600,000 children were immunized against measles and 42,000 patients were treated for Acute Watery Diarrhoea/cholera