Somalia, UN agencies seek $1 billion to help 3 million people

Displaced people wait to receive for non-food items from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees at the Kabasa transit centre for the internally displaced people in Dollow town, along the Somalia-Ethiopia border. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Somalia, the United Nations and humanitarian agencies on Wednesday launched the 2020 Somalia Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP), seeking 1.03 billion U.S. dollars to provide life-saving assistance and livelihood support to three million people.

The plan aims to provide food assistance monthly to 2.1 million people, support access to education for more than 300,000 children, provide health assistance to 2.5 million people, deliver safe water to more than 1.2 million people and non-food items to 1.24 million people, and address conflict-related protection concerns including the risk of gender-based violence.

According to the HRP, more than half of Somalia's population live below the poverty line, noting that huge food and nutrition gaps exist among poor agro-pastoral, marginalized and displaced communities.

Hamza Said Hamza, minister of humanitarian affairs and disaster management, expressed the government's commitment to working with all humanitarian agencies operating in the country to implement the HRP.

The HRP aims to reduce the prevalence of acute malnutrition and health needs, meet the basic needs of people across 74 districts, strengthen protection, right to safety and dignity, and enhance the capacity of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and non-IDPs to cope with significant shocks.

(CGTN)