Thursday May 9, 2019
Women and children in Dhagahyale village, 54km from Guri Ceel town, wait their turn to see the Somali Red Crescent Society mobile health team. CC BY-NC-ND / ICRC / Mohamed Abdikarim
The EU has provided 140,000 U.S. dollars in humanitarian funding to assist families severely hit by drought in Somalia.
The EU said the funding will assist the most affected people suffering from food shortages requiring humanitarian assistance following sustained drought in the horn of Africa nation.
“This EU funding is supporting the Somali Red Crescent Society in delivering much needed help to vulnerable people who face acute food shortages and who urgently need food assistance,” said the EU said in a statement issued on Tuesday night.
According to the European bloc, the drought resulted from insufficient seasonal rainfall at the end of last year and ongoing dry weather conditions and high temperatures in Somalia.
“The humanitarian aid directly benefits 5,100 people, representing 850 households in the Awdal and Woqooyi Galbeed regions in Somaliland, in northwestern Somalia, in a project that will run over three months,” said the EU.
The Somali Red Crescent Society is supporting the affected families through emergency cash transfers of 80 dollars per household per month. The cash transfers are helping families to buy food and other basic needs.
The UN says more than 1.5 million people in Somalia are still facing acute food security through June due to protracted conflict and the impacts of below-average October to December (Deyr season) rainfall.