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SOMALIA: "High rates" of malnutrition around Bula Hawa

NAIROBI, 14 June (IRIN) - There are high rates of moderate malnutrition in Bula Hawa, southern Somalia, with 40 percent of children screened malnourished, the June nutrition report by the USAID-funded Food Security Analysis Unit said. During February and March, no reports were received from the Bula Hawa centre, when thousands of town residents were affected by inter-clan fighting, which later led to up to 10,000 fleeing across the border to the Kenyan border town of Mandera.

But the resumption of reporting in April and May showed a new trend, this being that "attendance for screening has been substantially lower... but the proportion of these children who are reported to be malnourished is high, around 40 percent". UNICEF and the Gedo Health Consortium have supplied supplementary feeding at Bula Hawa, and there have been general food distributions in the Kenyan border town of Mandera, where some displaced Somalis found temporary shelter.

Apart from the security concerns, the area has experienced dry weather conditions, which led to the movement of livestock out of the area, FSAU said. Humanitarian sources told IRIN that mining of roads during the inter-clan fights had also affected movement and livelihoods.

Humanitarian sources told IRIN that the displaced group in Mandera had typically been women and children, with the men frequently moving to and from Bula Hawa to maintain livelihoods and monitor the security situation. With a peace agreement signed last week, humanitarian agencies and the Kenyan authorities anticipate that the displaced will return home.

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