The World Food Program has warned of a famine that threatens 22 million people in the Horn of Africa, due to the increasing risk of food insecurity due to drought and lack of rain, which has led to the death of millions of livestock and the destruction of crops.
The World Food Program has warned of a famine that threatens at least 22 million people in the Horn of Africa, where the risk of food insecurity is increasing due to drought, which has reached record levels.
The United Nations program indicated on Friday that “the lack of rainfall for the fourth consecutive season” since the end of the year 2020, exacerbated the worst drought in 40 years, led to the death of millions of livestock, destroyed crops and plunged areas in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia into famine-like conditions. .
More than a million people have left their homes in search of water and food.
At the beginning of the year, the World Food Program warned that 13 million people in the Horn of Africa were acutely food insecure due to drought.
By the middle of the year, after the Russian attack on Ukraine captured the attention of international donors and raised food and fuel prices, that number had risen to 20 million, according to WFP.
"Now, the number is expected to rise again to at least 22 million people by September," the World Food Program said in a statement.
"This number will continue to rise, and hunger will worsen if the rains do not fall, from October to December, and the most vulnerable people do not receive humanitarian assistance," the statement continued.
He stressed that starvation "now poses a grave danger."
"There does not appear to be an end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must have the resources necessary to save lives and prevent people from sliding into catastrophic levels of hunger and famine," the statement quoted WFP Executive Director David Beasley as saying.
"The world must act now to protect the most vulnerable communities from the threat of famine in the Horn of Africa," Beasley added.
The World Food Program stressed that it urgently needs $418 million over the next six months to meet these growing needs.
Last month, the United States pledged $1.2 billion in food aid to help avert famine in the Horn of Africa and urged other countries, including China, to do more to address a food crisis exacerbated by Russia's attack on Ukraine.