Continuing child malnutrition

Somalia was worst hit by the extreme drought in 2011 that affected more than 13 million people across the Horn of Africa.

Tens of thousands of people fled their homes in search of food.

The UN declared the famine over in February 2012.

"While conditions in Somalia have improved in recent months, the country still has one of the highest rates of child malnutrition and infant mortality in the world," Ben Foot, from the charity Save the Children, said in a statement.

The UK government has said that at a conference it is hosting on Somalia's future next week it will set out policies on how to tackle the root cause of famine and contain the effects of drought.

The UK's International Development Secretary Justine Greening said Somalia's famine had been "one of the worst disasters of recent times,"

During more than 20 years of civil war, Somalia has seen clan-based warlords, rival politicians and Islamist militants battle for control - a situation that has allowed lawlessness to flourish.

Last September, a UN-backed government came to power, after eight years of transitional rule, bringing some stability to some areas.

Source 3

Famine in Somalia: causes and solutions

“Famines result from a combination “triple failure”: production, access, and response.”

The UN announcement of famine in Somalia is both a wake-up call to the scale of this disaster, and a wake-up call to the solutions needed to limit death-from-hunger now and in the future. So, what is famine and how can we prevent it?

Famine is the “triple failure” of (1) food production, (2) people’s ability to access food and, finally and most crucially (3) in the political response by governments and international donors. Crop failure and poverty leave people vulnerable to starvation – but famine only occurs with political failure. In Somalia years of internal violence and conflict have been highly significant in creating the conditions for famine.

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