UNICEF: 7 million children under 5 malnourished in East Africa

The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) announced on Monday that 7 million children under the age of 5 in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are malnourished and over 1.9 million children are at risk of dying.
"Children in the Horn of Africa are living through an unprecedented large-scale crisis of hunger, displacement, water scarcity and insecurity," the statement said.
The region has been hit by one of the worst droughts in 40 years, followed by severe flooding in some areas. Vulnerable people have lost livelihoods and been forced to leave their homes in search of food and water.
"This crisis has deprived children of the essentials of childhood – having enough to eat, a home, safe water and going to school," said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF regional director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
He said that while recent rainfall brought some respite after the drought, it also led to floods with devastating effects.
As well as the destruction of infrastructure, water-borne diseases are prevalent. "The current cholera outbreak is among the longest outbreaks ever recorded in Ethiopia," Fall said, adding that recovery from such disasters does not occur overnight.
Additionally food prices remain high in the region.
According to UNICEF, 23-million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia with the number of severely malnourished children needing treatment increasing.
"With the extreme weather cycles that we see today in the Horn of Africa, the next crisis may hit before children and families have had a chance to recover," Fall said, calling on the international community for assistance.