Mogadishu — THE projected number of children to suffer malnutrition as a result of drought, disease and displacement in Somalia has shot up by 50 percent since the beginning of the year to 1,4 million. Of these, over 275 000 will suffer life-threatening severe acute malnutrition in 2017. The situation is dire with outbreaks of malaria already imminent as well as an upsurge of cholera. The United Nations Children's Fund has raised fear of the repeat of the famine that pummelled the East African country in 2011 when an estimated 260 000 people - over half of them young children- were killed. The main causes of death among children were diarrhoea and measles. Meanwhile, women and children who make the trek, generally on foot, to places where they hope to find assistance, are often robbed. While there have been some reports of sexual abuse, including rape, most women do not come forward due to the stigma associated with rape and fear that their husbands will learn of it. "Perpetrators of sexual violence are seldom punished," said Steven Lauwerier, UNICEF Somalia representative. The drought has also forced some 40 000 children to stop attending classes, as the most vulnerable families enlist children to search for water, or as they migrate in search of food and water. There is anecdotal evidence of more children living on the street, and of displaced children being recruited into armed groups. UN has received over $78 million (R1 billion) of its $148 million appeal. - CAJ News