Climate-driven weather disasters across a dozen African countries are threatening the physical and mental development of an entire generation, and their plight is expected to get even worse next year, the head of the WHO Foundation warned.
The worst drought in at least four decades across the Horn of Africa in the east of the continent and floods and water shortages in West Africa’s Sahel region have left 76 million people food insecure. Parts of Somalia are on the verge of famine.
The disasters, exacerbated by conflict, are driving malnutrition among infants and causing disease outbreaks as people migrate in search of water and food, and overrun health systems struggle to respond, said Anil Soni, the WHO Foundation’s chief executive officer. The World Health Organization, has raised less than half of its target of about $200 million for the two regions this year. The foundation collects money on behalf of the WHO.
