Highlights
• The number of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera cases continue to increase in South Central Somalia with over 7,000 cases reported since the start of the year, an increase of 140 per cent when compared to 2015 during which 5,257 cases were reported throughout the year. Cholera has now been confirmed in 11 districts and UNICEF and partners are scaling up efforts to provide health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in affected areas and hotspots.
• As part of programming for Resilience and together with UN partners FAO and WFP, since 2015 UNICEF has increased access to safe water, extended community-led total sanitation approaches to floods, drought and disease prone areas and provided training and support to community based workers on health, nutrition and hygiene outreach and promotion. To date, 25,081 households have accessed health, nutrition, hygiene and child protection information and services through a community-based worker or local committee. 10,240 children have accessed education services from ongoing UNICEF resilience interventions. 27,000 additional people now live in selfdeclared open defecation-free communities and 4,521 children have benefited from child protection services.
Situation Overview and Humanitarian Needs
Parts of Puntland and Somaliland continue to experience severe drought conditions, following four successive seasons of below-average rains in parts of Somaliland and a below-average Deyr rainy season in Puntland. An estimated 385,000 people face acute food insecurity and are in dire need of assistance, while another 1.3 million are at risk of slipping into acute food insecurity. While moderate to heavy rains have been recorded in parts of Somaliland in April, drought conditions in Puntland have worsened from severe to extreme due to delayed and poorly distributed rains, further exacerbating the vulnerability of affected populations.
The number of Acute Watery Diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera cases continue to increase in South Central Somalia with over 7,000 cases reported since the start of the year, an increase of 140 per cent when compared to 2015 during which 5,257 cases were reported throughout the year. Cholera has now been confirmed in 11 districts and the most affected regions are Banadir, Bay, Lower and Middle Juba, Lower and Middle Shabelle and Hiraan. Based on data from previous years, projections from WHO indicate there could be up to an additional 15,000 severe cases and 60,000 mild/moderate cases over the coming six months; with a peak of the outbreak by end of July to beginning of August.