Oxfam, a global organization, has reiterated its readiness to continue working closely with local partners and the government to tackle hunger in Somalia, where nearly half of the population of about 8.3 million people is in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, of which over 700,000 are facing a looming famine.
The Oxfam Country Director in Somalia, Adil AlMahi, disclosed this while presenting a statement tagged “2023 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan,” where it was pointed out that over 208,457 people have been reached with lifesaving food, water, sanitation, and hygiene since April 2022.
The name “Oxfam” was derived from the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, in Britain in 1942, mainly to supply food through an allied naval blockade to starving women and children in enemy-occupied Greece during the Second World War.
NBMA Organizes Biosafety Conference to Address Food Crisis in Nigeria
As the situation in Europe improved, Oxfam’s focus shifted to sending materials and financial aid to groups assisting poor people throughout Europe, and later to the needs of people in developing countries, with the organization now present in approximately 70 countries.
AlMahi noted that people’s ability to cope has been stretched to a breaking point, with nothing left to fall back on, and that the organization is aiming to support an additional 420,000 of the most vulnerable people and urgently requires €15m to ramp up its operations.
NALDA Assures Nigerians Won’t Experience Food Scarcity in 2023
“With five failed rainy seasons, Somalia is quickly moving towards what may be one of its worst humanitarian crises in recent history. What Somalia requires is a massive global collective effort to quickly lift people out of a looming famine”.
“This includes donors immediately injecting money to meet the United Nations’ $2.6 billion.” It also includes tackling the root causes of hunger in Somalia, including preparing for future similar climate shocks in the future, supporting farmers to replenish their crops and stocks, and tackling violence.” AlMahi said
