Somalia - April 2019 Situation Report

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Somalia - April 2019 Situation Report
Thursday, June 6, 2019
  • Overall situation: Mild to moderate drought conditions are imminent in many parts of Somalia due to the 2018 insufficient Deyr rains and delayed onset of Gu rains. Poor start of the Gu rainfall season has shortened the length of the crop growing season. Given the shortened season, below average Gu rainfall performance, and very low river levels to date, a significant reduction of 40-50 percent in aggregate seasonal cereal output is expected in July 2019.
  • Food security: Nearly 4.9 million people are estimated to be food insecure and the number is expected to rise. The combination of environmental deterioration, disasters such as droughts and floods, lack of adequate levels of agricultural production, conflict and economic crisis have eroded vulnerable households’ ability to cope. FSNAU reports that approximately 1.7 million people are now estimated to be in Crisis (IPC Phase 3) and Emergency (IPC Phase 4) between April and June 2019, an increase of 10 percent from the previous projection of 1.55 million for February-June 2019. The number of people classified as Stressed (IPC Phase 2) remains 3.4 million.
  • Malnutrition levels remain critical in many areas with 903,100 children aged under-5 projected to be acutely malnourished from August 2018 to September 2019 and an additional 138,000 severely malnourished.
  • Urgent scale-up of humanitarian food assistance is needed to help vulnerable people across the country. It is also critical to support resilience activities to improve livelihoods and to increase families’ coping abilities.
  • In Southwest State, partners are facing resource constraints resulting into low partner response in the region. Livelihood assets are needed for rural populations especially in preparation for the Gu rain season. The number of households in the state that are accessing improved access to food and special safety nets is small. Only an estimated 10 per cent of internally displaced people in Baidoa receive relief assistance. There is also need to increase emergency shelter services for displaced persons especially with the approaching Gu rains which might cause flash floods.