NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — A decision by extremists Islamist militants to ban food aid and international donors numb to a series of unfolding disasters made south-central Somalia the most dangerous place in the world to be a child in 2011.
The first in-depth scientific study of famine deaths in Somalia in 2011 was released Thursday. It estimates 133,000 children under age 5 died, with child death rates approaching 20 percent in some communities.
That's 133,000 under-5 deaths out of an estimated 9.3 million people. That compares to 65,000 under-5 deaths in all other industrial countries in the world, a combined population of 990 million, according to Chris Hillbruner, a senior food security adviser at FEWS NET, a famine warning agency.
The Associated Press earlier reported Monday on the overall findings of the report.
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