The U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned Tuesday that it will have to suspend essential health services in Somalia unless it receives additional funding within one month. More than 70 percent of healthcare in Somalia is provided by UNICEF and its partners, including supplies of medicines, all vaccines, the wages of employees, training of health workers, fuel for generators of water, and medical equipment. UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told reporters in Geneva that the suspension of health services would represent an enormous difficulty, in particular for children. "More than 620,000 children would no longer have access to free vaccinations and medical services such as basic treatment for diarrhea and pneumonia," Boulierac said. "The suspension would also affect the supply of antibiotics, pre-natal services currently benefiting 280,000 pregnant women and other services for 13,000 women of childbearing age." Boulierac said that if funding is not received immediately, UNICEF will have to stop providing essential life-saving services within one month. Without life-saving therapeutic assistance, about 200,000 children under the age of five in Somalia will be at risk of dying of malnutrition by the end of this year, Boulierac warned. "If these children do not quickly receive therapeutic assistance, this situation will become even worse with the lack of access to preventive nutrition interventions," Boulierac said. The agency needs about $15 million to continue its essential health services but has only received 10 percent of this amount.
