Ekeomah Atuonwu
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has said that the conditions and consequences of drought have left an estimated 13 million people facing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa.
The Horn of Africa is a large peninsula of East Africa, located on the easternmost part of the African mainland.
The UN agency has requested rapid aid to avoid humanitarian crises in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia, which is experiencing the driest circumstances since 1981.
Pastoral and farming communities in southern and south-eastern Ethiopia, south-eastern and northern Kenya, and south-central Somalia, are all suffering from drought. The region has a high rate of malnutrition.
WFP is delivering life-saving food and nutrition support to drought-affected populations in all three drought-affected nations.
WFP cash subsidies and insurance programs also assist people in purchasing food to keep their livestock alive or compensating them for losses.
As the demands in the Horn of Africa rise, rapid aid is required to avoid a massive humanitarian crisis just like one that occurred in Somalia in 2011, when 250,000 people perished from starvation.
WFP launched its Regional Drought Response Plan for the Horn of Africa this week, requesting US$ 327 million to meet the immediate needs of 4.5 million people in the coming six months and assist communities become more resilient to catastrophic climate shocks.
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