The Australian Government today offered $10 million to support the UN Children's Fund's (UNICEF's) humanitarian relief work in response to the Horn of Africa crisis in Somalia.
UNICEF is calling this a children's famine. UNICEF estimates there are over 2 million malnourished children in need of urgent, life-saving actions in the Horn of Africa, including an estimated 1.25 million children across southern Somalia.
Australian assistance will contribute to UNICEF's work to meet the needs of women and children across Somalia. UNICEF will:
* - provide treatment to severely malnourished children in more than 500 outpatient therapeutic centres that are aiming to reach 400,000 children over the next 6 months;
* - deliver supplementary food to 150,000 households over the next few months;
* - undertake immunisations targeting 2 million children from 6 months to 15 years of age for measles vaccination;
* - upgrade water supply and sanitation facilities for internally displaced people and host communities, to help prevent the spread of water-borne diseases such as cholera; and
* - protect internally displaced children by establishing primary schools and child friendly spaces in camps and neighbouring communities.
Australia's total funding in response to the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa now stands at $98.2 million.