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UNITED NATIONS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- More than 11,000 acute watery diarrhoea or cholera cases and 268 drought-related deaths have been reported since January in Somalia, Stephane Dujarric, Spokesman for the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, said at the daily news briefing Thursday.
On Wednesday, the Federal Government launched its first-ever vaccination campaign in Somalia, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO), targeting more than 450,000 at-risk people, said Dujarric.
"The UN and our partners have strategic, targeted plans and teams on the ground; and we are scaling up our response to avert a possible famine," he said.
Some 6.2 million people, more than half of Somalia's population, are in need of lifesaving humanitarian assistance, he added.
