4 Things You Need to Know About Water and Famine

Conflict, climate change, poverty and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic are triggering massive humanitarian crises, putting millions at risk of famine. During times of famine and extreme food insecurity, children are the most vulnerable and are at greater risk of severe malnutrition and death. These crises can also have irreversible lifelong consequences for children, leading to serious health and developmental challenges.

Famines are often associated with food scarcity, but the crisis has evolved to include not only food security, but also clean water, sanitation and health care, especially disease control. Water and sanitation are equally important for children and their families facing famine and food insecurity. There are four reasons for this:

1. Illness and Malnutrition

Unsafe water and sanitation can lead to malnutrition or exacerbate symptoms. Manuel Fontaine, UNICEF Director of Emergencies, said: "Malnourished children will not fare better unless their drinking water is safe, no matter how much food they eat. "Unsafe water can lead to diarrhoea, depriving children of the nutrients they need to survive and ultimately leading to malnutrition. Malnourished children are also more vulnerable to water-borne diseases such as cholera. It is estimated that nearly half of the world's undernourished people are attributable to inadequate access to minimum water, hygiene and sanitation facilities.

2. Climate change

Climate change and extreme weather events such as droughts and floods can deplete or pollute water sources. This threatens the quality and quantity of drinking water on which entire communities depend. In areas of extreme water scarcity, households compete for scarce or unsafe water, forcing them to leave their homes and increasing their risk of contracting disease.

Globally, more than 1.42 billion people, including 450 million children, live in areas of high or extreme water vulnerability. In southern Madagascar, a prolonged drought is triggering a humanitarian crisis, including severe food insecurity, malnutrition and rising cases of water-borne diseases.

3. Conflict

Conflict is often a major factor in the threat of famine, putting pressure on food and water supplies and sanitation systems. During armed conflict, people's reliance on water is often exploited deliberately, and water resources and the systems needed to provide drinking water are often directly attacked. Almost all conflict-related emergencies to which UNICEF has responded in recent years have involved some form of attack to impede access to water, either through deliberate attacks on water infrastructure or with collateral effects. Especially for young children, the consequences of these disruptions can be fatal. In protracted conflict, children under the age of 5 are more than 20 times more likely to die from diarrheal diseases associated with unsafe water and sanitation than from violence during conflict.

4. Displaced

When war or drought forces people to leave their homes, children and their families are more vulnerable to abuse and health threats. Children on the move have no choice but to use unsafe water. Makeshift camps without toilets have also become hotspots for disease outbreaks. Children who are already vulnerable are more susceptible to disease and often do not have access to hospitals and health care centers as they flee. In all, some 9.2 million people were displaced in the four countries affected by the famine.

How UNICEF can help

UNICEF's support for children and their families ranges from immediate life-saving interventions to building long-term resilience. These include:

1. Work with partners to build resilience in communities with high or extreme water vulnerability by pumping groundwater. Drilling for reliable groundwater could make a difference in the lives of at least 70 million children in the Horn of Africa, who live in areas with highly volatile water resources.

2. Explore long-term solutions through regional initiatives. Providing safe, sustainable water, preventing disease, and resisting the effects of climate change enables families to stay in their communities, where children can attend schools and access primary health care.

3. Development of monitoring and early warning systems. Timely information to alert governments and communities to rising climate, environmental and disaster risks so immediate action can be taken to prevent future crises.

In Somalia, UNICEF is working with the government and partners to deliver key interventions as part of a drought response programme, including: providing therapeutic foods to treat acute malnutrition; providing micronutrients to address undernutrition; providing counseling , to encourage families to adopt practical nutrition and health practices at home. During the first three months of 2022, UNICEF also provided temporary emergency water for some 480,000 people.

4. In 2021, UNICEF provided more than 3 million people in Kenya with safe water for drinking, cooking and personal hygiene, water, sanitation and personal hygiene supplies, health information related to COVID-19, household water treatment, personal Sanitation promotion and improved sanitation.