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。She says this is enough to treat 300,000 malnourished children. She notes these supplies could be flown to Nairobi in a matter of hours. But, air transport is extremely costly.

她说，这些紧急食品，足以救治三十万名营养不良的儿童。她指出，这些食品可以在几个小时之内空运到肯尼亚首都内罗毕。只不过空运费用特别昂贵。

“A cargo jumbo jet, for instance costs about $350,000 to transport 100 metric tons of therapeutic food from France to Nairobi. And, that cost is pretty much equivalent of the cost of the cargo itself," said Mercado. "The other alternative is via sea and we are setting up a pipeline for doing this. But, we have a six-week gap, which means that we need to transport 400 metric tons per week via air.”

她说：“例如，一架珍宝喷射运输机从法国运送100公吨的医疗食物到内罗毕，费用是三十五万美元。这个数字相当于这批货物的价值。另外的选择是海运，我们为此设立了一个管道。但是这将有长达六个星期的时间差异。因此，我们每个星期须要空运四百公吨的食品。”

The funding situation for humanitarian operations for the Horn of Africa is dire. OCHA reports the U.N.’s Drought Appeal is only 44 percent funded. It says $1.4 billion more is urgently required.

非洲之角人道救援行动的经费问题令人担忧。人道主义协调办公室报告说，联合国的旱灾救援行动，只有百分之44的经费有了着落。报告中说，他们还急需十四亿美元的经费。

UNICEF is asking for $314 million as its part of this consolidated appeal. To date, the agency has received about one-third of this sum, which it says is far too little to do what needs to be done.

联合国儿童基金会就他们的整体救援部分，需要三亿一千四百万美元。到目前为止，这个机构只收到所需款项的三分之一。他们说，这个数字和他们所需的经费，距离太远。

UNICEF spokeswoman Mercado says over the past week, British Airways, Lufthansa, UPS, Virgin and Cargo Luxos have offered to transport some of the emergency supplies to Nairobi free of charge for a limited period of time.

默卡铎说，过去一个星期以来，英航，德航，联合包裹运递，维京航空和卢森堡空运都提供了一定期限的免费服务，将紧急物资运送到内罗毕。

She says she hopes these offers will inspire other airlines to step forward.

她希望，这几家业者提供的免费服务，将鼓励其它公司也前来提供协助。