Secretary of State for National Solidarity, Zahra Youssouf Kayad , gave last Monday in his cabinet a realistic picture of the impact of national control programs against drought.

Secretary of State for National Solidarity, Zahra Youssouf Kayad , made last Monday in his cabinet a media outlet dedicated to the context of prevailing drought in Djibouti and the rest of the region. Various lessons can be learned .

In the Horn of Africa , drought is one of the main causes of malnutrition and starvation. The harsh effects of natural disasters made ​​more fragile the situation of vulnerable households , destitute and unemployed .

To cope with this situation and to meet the needs of these households , the Djibouti government has adopted policies and strategies broken down into sectoral programs and actions to sustainably influence curves indicators of extreme poverty , unemployment, food insecurity and malnutrition . It is in this context that social protection strategy focused on social safety nets has been implemented to address these challenges. One of the objectives of this strategy is the coordination of actions in terms of social assistance in order to reach the most needy.

Innovative social assistance programs have been undertaken by the government to fight against food insecurity in urban and rural areas. These include the proposed food stamp program and the distribution of food during the lean season to enhance the resilience of vulnerable households to external and internal shocks .

In 2012, these two programs have to attend about 20,000 households, or 116,000 people. And for 2013 , the Secretariat of State for National Solidarity and has stepped up its efforts to provide food assistance to more than 30,000 households , totaling 174,000 people.

An evaluation conducted in May 2013 by WFP showed a positive improvement in the situation of food insecure households from 42,600 in 2012 to 36,100 in 2013 in rural areas . In the response against malnutrition, most programs of the Ministry of Health, Djibouti Social Development Agency (ADDS ) followed the nutritional status of households in 3030 as part of its social assistance program focused on the employment and foundations of human capital. These are households with children under 2 years , pregnant and lactating women. These households received nutritional monitoring, and plumpy doz packages micro nutrition and culinary demonstration sessions . In addition, the results of the second Djibouti Survey of Family Health ( EDSF / PAPFAM 2 ) has shown that the Republic of Djibouti has made much progress in the chapters of maternal and infant mortality , access maternal care , immunization .

it is clear that Djibouti has experienced in recent years difficult weather situations. But the government is mobilizing human, financial and technical resources needed to anticipate risks and to act quickly. Also, the national authorities continue to multiply studies and surveys to understand the evolution of poverty and to better assess the impact of programs .  » We performed emergency operations to shocks to assist rural , urban and peri-urban vulnerable , » said Secretary of State for National Solidarity . Indeed, his department has implemented a robust system of identification and good information and awareness among beneficiaries device to maximize the effectiveness of these programs. « And our country will soon adopt a single register of beneficiaries of social assistance programs with targeted to anticipate shocks and reduce the vulnerability of the population benefits » essentially confirmed Zahra Youssouf Kayad .