In emergencies it is always the children – the most vulnerable -- who suffer first and suffer most. Nowhere is this more clear than in the Horn of Africa, where a human disaster risks turning into a human catastrophe.
The situation is most dire in Somalia and the refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia, but it extends well beyond, to pastoral communities across the region where it is threatening whole families and communities.
This is a children’s crisis. At present, 4.14 million children are in need of urgent assistance. Across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya, tens of thousands of people have already died and more than 300,000 children are severely acutely malnourished and at imminent risk of dying. These are already among the world’s most disadvantaged children, and they are becoming more vulnerable by the day. They are deprived of virtually every human need, and every fundamental right.
UNICEF is responding in different ways together with our sister UN agencies and other partners. We have established hundreds of nutrition centres and programmes in Somalia; we are reaching more than four million people with water and sanitation efforts in the region; and we are planning measles’ vaccination programmes to reach more than ten million children in the region. But these efforts are not enough. The crisis has not yet peaked, as there will be no major harvests for the rest of the year. The disaster is set to worsen.
To save all the lives we can, we need all the support we can get. We estimate that UNICEF’s total requirements for the emergency response stand at over $ 360 million until the end of 2011. Despite significant contributions from many governments and private donors through our National Committees, UNICEF still faces a shortfall of over $120 million. We must close that gap.
Our response will be targeted, reaching those in most immediate need and at greatest risk first; but we will also scale up operations to reach those in drought and famine affected areas with preventive assistance. And the response must also be flexible – applying a range of methods in different circumstances and adapting to local conditions and needs.
The only area in which we should be inflexible is in the urgency to act, and act now – both to address immediate needs and to build future resilience.
So, on behalf of UNICEF, I thank you all for your current help and your future support. Please accept my very best wishes for a productive conference.