麻豆社

A United Nations report has warned of a looming global water crisis, with a huge increase in scarcity as a result of over-consumption, pollution and climate change.

The document has been published to coincide with the first major UN water summit in more than 40 years.

East Africa is one of the worst-affected regions when it comes to water shortages, in part due to five years of consecutive drought in many parts of Somalia and Kenya.

It's now believed that 43,000 people in Somalia probably died from the effects of drought last year, with half of them children.

On the programme we spoke to Victor Chinyama, Chief of Communication for UNICEF Somalia, who joined us from the capital Mogadishu. He told Newsday: "People are dying in Somalia as a result of the drought - we did not know how many," he says.

"This report also projects mortality between January to June this year, and puts that figure at about 25,000 people who are likely to die as a direct result of the drought. The crisis in Somalia is far from over... but lives can still be saved, and now is the window of opportunity to do that."

(Photo shows: Somali displaced girl Sadia Ali, 8, drinks water from a tap at the Kaxareey camp for the internally displaced people in Dollow, Gedo region of Somalia May 24, 2022. Credit: Reuters)

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