More than 5 million people in Somalia will require humanitarian assistance this year, the UN humanitarian agency said on Tuesday. According to the 2020 Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) published by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), most families with severe or extreme needs live in southern, central and southwest regions.

The report urges donors to build on 2019 gains, sustain lifesaving response and support livelihoods early in 2020. “

The main factors driving humanitarian needs in Somalia include food insecurity, climate-related shocks, conflict and heightened protection risks. People with disabilities face additional vulnerabilities,” said OCHA. Food security experts have warned that the floods which were experienced late 2019, made some roads impassable and cut thousands off from aid. “About 1.3 million boys, girls, pregnant and lactating women suffer from acute malnutrition, with 180,000 children under 5 suffering from life-threatening severe malnutrition,” said OCHA. The UN agency said an estimated 3.7 million people need protection-related assistance, 1.37 million children (including 691,295 girls) need assistance to either stay or enroll in school in 2020. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reports that an estimated 70,000 hectares of land have been infested by hoppers and breeding adult locusts in Somalia