UNICEF calls for additional resources to fight hunger, famine in Somalia

Though the humanitarian response to the food crisis in the Horn of Africa has lessened the suffering of thousands of people in the region, "more resources are needed to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of children in famine-hit areas of Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said" in a progress report released Thursday, the U.N. News Centre reports. Releasing the report, Elhadj As Sy, UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa, "called for the scaling up of integrated interventions in health, nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, education and child protection," according to the news service (10/20).

Speaking about the famine in Somalia in an interview with Guardian health editor Sarah Boseley in her "Global Health Blog," Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and chair of the global leaders' council for reproductive health at the Aspen Institute, said a lack of access to contraception "is a contributory factor to the country's misery." According to the blog, "Robinson talks of the failure to learn the lessons of the famine of 1992, and the failure of the donor community to prioritize the health of women and children" (10/20).