An Urgent Message from the Irish Red Cross
Two areas of southern Somalia are now in the grip of the first famine the country has seen for 19 years.
A famine is when more than two people per 10,000 are dying every day and when children under five years old are suffering severe muscle wasting.
Unless we act soon to bring extra food and water, the International Red Cross fears that one child in every 10 will starve to death.
Please help save the lives of families and children in Somalia and in other parts of East Africa.
The International Red Cross is one of the very few organisations with access to Somalia's worst-hit areas. In the Bay and Lower Shabelle regions, nearly 11% of children under five have severe acute malnutrition. This has doubled since March and may get worse. In all, more than 10 million people are suffering, thousands are dying.
Definition of famine:
More than 30% of children must be suffering from acute malnutrition
Two adults or four children must be dying of hunger each day for every group of 10,000 people
The population must have access to far below 2,100 kilocalories of food per day
