AFRICA : SOMALIA : SERIOUS FAMINE IS KILLING CHILDREN

Agenzia Fides REPORT - After 20 years of war, Somalia is currently experiencing a very serious famine and so far 55 children have died of cholera and severe malnutrition. In the southern region of Bay, about 250 kilometers northwest of Mogadishu, other 35 cases of cholera among children have been registered. At least 425 people suffering from various diseases have been admitted to local hospitals for medical treatment. More than 20 children have died of starvation and thousands more are on the verge of dying for the same cause. Somalia, records the highest infant mortality rate in the world, with at least one out of five children dies before reaching 5 years of age. According to the latest figures of the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation of the United Nations, the mortality rate in 2010 was 180 deaths per 1000 live births. Most of southern Somalia suffers from famine and, according to the UN, 750 000 people could die. According to the organization less than a third of children under one has been vaccinated in the country, over 70% of the population has no access to drinking water, and only 3 out of 10 children are enrolled in primary school. Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, when warlords overthrew former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. Strategically located in the Horn of Africa, it is one of the countries where the largest number of refugees and displaced persons in the world come from. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 04/01/2012)
http://www.fides.org/aree/news/newsdet.php?idnews=30701&lan=eng

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