Over 13m face severe hunger in Africa
Geneva, Tuesday
The United Nations’ World Food Programme (WFP) says 13 million people across the Horn of Africa face severe hunger because of continued drought.
Failed harvests and food shortages are forcing families from their homes, the WFP says, and immediate assistance is needed to prevent a humanitarian crisis.
The rainy season has failed three years in a row – and the drought continues. Crops are ruined, livestock are dying, and 13 million people in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya are going hungry.
Food prices are rising, and with little to harvest, demand for agricultural labour is falling, increasing the pressure on families trying to feed themselves. Without immediate assistance, the WFP says, a humanitarian crisis is unavoidable.
The WFP is appealing for $327m to respond to the drought – in the short term to provide food and cash grants, and in the long term to build resilience among farming communities where less rain and more drought could, with climate change, become the norm.
In Kenya, the government declared the drought a national emergency in September 2021 and an estimated 2.8 million people are in need of assistance.
WFP aims to provide urgent food assistance to more than 890,000 people in the worst affected counties as well as scale up malnutrition treatment programmes for women and children. WFP will also extend micro-insurance support for smallholder farmers.
In Ethiopia, an estimated 5.7 million people affected by severe drought need food assistance. In Somalia, the number of acutely food insecure people, is expected to increase from 3.5 to 4.6 million between February-May 2022 if humanitarian assistance is not received.
WFP is aiming to scale up its food assistance to support an additional 600,000 people in the first half of this year, reaching a total of almost 2.5 million. To help prevent and treat the implications of drought, WFP will also provide nutrition support to women and children.
In Somalia, the number of acutely food insecure people is expected to increase from 3.5 to 4.6 million between February-May 2022 if humanitarian assistance is not received.
WFP is aiming to scale up its food assistance to support an additional 600,000 people in the first half of this year, reaching a total of almost 2.5 million. To help prevent and treat the implications of drought, WFP will also provide nutrition support to women and children. WFP is also continuing livelihoods, resilience and food systems programmes to protect recent development gains and strengthen vulnerable Somalis against droughts and other crises in the long term.
Droughts in the Horn of Africa have been increasing in severity and frequency, aggravated by climate change and desertification.
With multiple, consecutive years of poor rains, dry spells and drought, including the El Niño-induced drought in 2015/16, there has been little to no recovery among affected households.
- BBC and WFP
