Death Conspires-Horn of Africa

Independent Films, Global Warming, Social Responsibility Movies

With a major food and refugee crisis looming in the Horn of Africa due to a deadly combination of drought, on-going conflict and escalating food prices, UNICEF called on local governments and donors to lead a rapid humanitarian response. According to UNICEF, millions of children and women are at risk from death and disease unless a rapid and speedy response is put into action.

SOUNDBITE (English) Robert McCarthy, Regional Emergency Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF:
“The situation is extremely bad. The Horn of Africa is vulnerable to drought, it’s been affected by conflict and instability for many years and we have many people living in conditions of poverty or right on the border line. But what we have right now is a combination of the worst drought we have seen in half a century affecting many areas especially areas of Kenya and Southern Somalia. We’re seeing the impact of the global increase in food prices and at the same time the unresolved conflict in Somalia which is leading to continuous high displacement of populations.”

As usual, vulnerable and disadvantaged children are the ones who suffer the most. Over 9 million people are already in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, close to 2 million of them are children under the age of five.

This volatile region has seen many crises. The current crisis, being called the worst in 60 years, threatens thousands of families already living in the direst of conditions.

The past months have been the driest in six decades in parts of the region. Global Acute Malnutrition rates in Northern Kenya are now above 25 per cent with records of 37.4 per cent in the Turkana district.

SOUNDBITE (English) Robert McCarthy, Regional Emergency Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF:
“The critical concern right now is here in Kenya and also in Somalia and these are the countries where the effects of the drought have been the most devastating, where we are seeing the most significant numbers of children who are malnourished and we’re seeing a real need for getting food assistance to people.”

UNICEF is directly supporting the rehabilitation of moderately and severely malnourished children in partnership with government health services, NGOs and community organizations.
Similar partnerships have enabled vital child immunization campaigns, health outreach support, programmes to ensure access to safe water and improve sanitation particularly in IDP and refugee camps.

However, funding shortfalls and in some areas, the denial of access, threaten to disrupt these essential services.

SOUNDBITE (English) Robert McCarthy, Regional Emergency Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNICEF:
“There’s an urgency to act, there is an urgency to co-ordinate effectively and to apply the resources that we have, that we recognize are quite limited. Now in Somalia we are constrained hugely by the effects of conflict and insecurity in the South especially and this is presenting major challenges to us as many people realize this has been a major problem for a good number of years and perhaps at this point we are experiencing the worst access to populations in Southern Somalia that we’ve had in the 20 years”

Tags

• death
• starvation
• Kenya
• Somalia
• drought

Directors:

• Muhamed Sacirbey (UNTV-UNICEF-UNHCR)

Producers:

• Susan Sacirbey (UNTV-UNICEF-UNHCR)