“We have sent a delegation to Mogadishu to oversee the distribution of relief supplies among the famine victims,” the bank said, adding that the delegation would coordinate with other relief organizations.
The IDB has provided Arafat and Madinah hospitals in Mogadishu with necessary medical supplies. “We are coordinating with three relief organizations to supply foodstuffs to areas along Somalia’s border with Kenya,” said the statement issued on Saturday.
More than 17,800 families in various cities of Somalia would benefit from IDB's relief kits, which include flour and powdered milk, the statement said.
In a related development, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has expressed its deep concern over the spread of cholera and other contagious diseases in Somalia as a result of contaminated water and a lack of pure water and health services.
The OIC warning came ahead of an emergency meeting called by the organization on Somalia in Istanbul on Wednesday.
The meeting has been convened on Turkey’s request to mobilize OIC resources to confront drought and famine in the African country.
The drought and famine in Somalia have killed more than 29,000 children under the age of five, according to US estimates, the first time such a precise death toll has been released related to the Horn of Africa crisis.
The United Nations has said previously that tens of thousands of people have died in the drought, the worst to hit Somalia in 60 years. The UN says 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished, a statistic that suggests the death toll of small children will rise.
Each day brings new evidence of the magnitude of the famine gripping Somalia. At Mogadishu’s Banadir Hospital, the main intake center for severe malnutrition cases, pediatrician Dr. Lul Mohammed says the number of new cases is staggering.
“I see 150 to 200 children every day. Every day we see two or three children dying. In July 90 children died. August is the same. The number is increasing ... All (cases) are severe. They have two to three conditions together — severe malnutrition, severe dehydration, severe anemia — and the survival rate is very low,” Mohammed said.
The UN has declared three new regions in Somalia famine zones, bringing the total number to five. Out of a population of roughly 7.5 million, the UN says 3.2 million Somalis are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.
