Nairobi - The United Nations children's agency UNICEF called for urgent action Wednesday to prevent child deaths from soaring in the Greater Horn of Africa. 

"The time to act is now to save children's lives," Per Engebak, UNICEF's regional director for east and southern Africa, said in a statement. 

"Committed, proactive, and decisive actions on the part of national governments and international partners can mitigate the multiple threats to children and families in the Greater Horn of Africa," he added. 

UNICEF said that combination of drought, conflict, rising food and energy prices, disease and poverty was pushing children and their families to the brink of disaster. 

Ethiopia and Somalia are the worst affected, but parts of Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda show ominously similar signs, UNICEF said. 

The World Food Programme has warned that in Somalia, where hundreds of thousands have fled a bloody conflict between Islamic insurgents and transitional government forces, 3.5 million people could be dependent on food aid later this year. 

UNICEF said that acute malnutrition rates in Somalia were above 20 per cent, higher than the 15-per-cent rate that indicates a severe nutritional situation warranting emergency responses. 

Millions are food-insecure in Ethiopia, including 75,000 severely malnourished children, as a result of drought, Uganda is facing similar problems, and in Kenya an estimated 1.2 million people are in need of emergency food assistance, UNICEF said. 

The agency said that the international community and donors had to support African governments by providing relief supplies and basic services such as healthcare and sanitation. 

"By taking these critical actions, governments and their international partners can make a huge difference in the coming months," Engebak emphasized. (dpa)