SIM cards loaded with cash – instead of the customary trucks loaded with grain – have helped avert famine in Somalia, the UN’s Office of Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported.
In February, the freshly-elected government sounded the alarm. Poor rainfall had led to large-scale crop failure and a rise in malnutrition. Against a backdrop of prolonged conflict, displacement and poor humanitarian access, some 6.7 million people – more than half the population – were now facing acute food insecurity.
