The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday warned an estimated 13 million people are facing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa due to severe drought conditions in the region, reported UN News.
According to the WFP, three consecutive failed rainy seasons in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, have decimated crops and caused abnormally high livestock deaths. Shortages of water and pasture are also forcing families to flee from their homes and triggering conflict between communities.
Furthermore, an increase in staple food prices, inflation, and low demand for agricultural labor has reduced people’s ability to buy food. Malnutrition is also very high across the region and is likely to worsen if no immediate action is taken.
Three failed rainy seasons have created the driest conditions since the 1980s, with forecasts of below-average rainfall set to increase suffering in the coming months.
“Harvests are ruined, livestock are dying, and hunger is growing as recurrent droughts affect the Horn of Africa”, said Michael Dunford, Regional Director in the WFP Regional Bureau for Eastern Africa.
Dunford said the grave situation requires immediate humanitarian action and consistent support to build the resilience of communities for the future.
The UN body said that it needs $327 million to look after the urgent needs of 4.5 million people over the next six months and to help communities become more resilient to extreme climate shocks.
Last year in October, the UN warned that more than 100 million extremely poor people across Africa were being threatened by accelerating climate change that could also melt away the continent’s few glaciers within 20 years.
Earlier this month, the UN’s children’s agency UNICEF said over six million people in Ethiopia are expected to need urgent humanitarian aid by mid-March.
According to the Somali NGO Consortium, more than seven million people need urgent help in Somalia.
