挽救索马里儿童急需航空业协助

The U.N. Children’s Fund is appealing to the air transport industry for free or heavily discounted cargo space to help transport emergency nutritional supplies to the Horn of Africa. UNICEF says hundreds of thousands of acutely malnourished children urgently need therapeutic treatment to keep them alive.

联合国儿童基金要求民用航空界以免费或大幅度折扣价格，承运营养品，紧急供应非洲之角地区。联合国儿童基金说，当地数以百万计的儿童遭遇严重营养不良情况，急需治疗以维持生存。

UNICEF spokeswoman, Marixie Mercado, says getting emergency supplies of food to malnourished children in the Horn of Africa as quickly as possible is a matter of life or death.

联合国儿童基金发言人马里克西·默卡铎说，紧急供应食物，尽速救济非洲之角营养不良的儿童，是一场决定生死的大事。

“There are over 2.3 million acutely malnourished children in the Horn of Africa. More than half a million will die if they do not get help within weeks. With therapeutic feeding a child can fully recuperate in a matter of four to six weeks," said Mercado. "We are asking the air transport industry for free or heavily discounted airline cargo space to transport this therapeutic food to children who will die without it.”

她说：“在非洲之角，有两百三十多万儿童遭遇营养不良的问题。其中五十万以上的儿童如果几个星期之内得不到救助，就会死亡。医疗性的喂食，可以让孩子们经过四至六个星期的休养，恢复健康。我们要求航空公司提供免费或者巨额折扣的货运服务，将这些营养药品运送给这些儿童，否则他们将会死亡。”

The worst drought to hit the Horn of Africa in 60 years is having a devastating affect upon the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. The United Nations reports nearly 12.5 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somalia are facing starvation.

非洲之角正遭受六十年以来最严重的旱灾。灾情给数百万人的生活和生计造成毁灭性的影响。根据联合国的报告，在肯尼亚、埃塞俄比亚、吉布提和索马里，有将近一千二百五十万人面临饥饿。

People in Somalia are particularly hard hit as they try to survive the twin disasters of conflict and drought. The United Nations warns famine, which is present in several regions of southern Somalia, is likely to spread throughout the entire region in the next two months.

其中索马里人民受灾特别严重，因为他们要在战争和灾害双重危难中挣扎求生。联合国警告说，未来两个月内，饥荒很可能会从索马里南部的几个地区蔓延到整个区域。

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OCHA reports one quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million people are either internally displaced or have fled to neighboring countries in search of assistance. It says about 1.25 million children across southern Somalia are in urgent need of life-saving assistance.

联合国人道主义协调办公室的报告指出，索马里七百五十万人口中，有四分之一的人不是在国内流离失所，就是远离家园，逃荒到邻近国家寻求救助。报告说，在索马里南部各地，有大约一百二十五万儿童急需救助。

Mercado says UNICEF can help save these children’s lives if her agency can get special nutritional food to them quickly. She says UNICEF has more than 5,000 metric tons of emergency food in warehouses in Belgium, France and Italy.

默卡铎说，如果联合国儿童基金能够迅速将营养食品送给那些孩子，就能挽救他们的生命。她说，联合国儿童基金在比利时、法国和意大利的仓库中，存有五千公吨的紧急食品。