Millions Facing Starvation In The Horn Of Africa
The United Nations issues a dire warning regarding the hunger crises in Africa, citing the number of hungry people will rise from 14 million to 20 million in 2022 if immediate action isn’t taken.
The number of famished people in Kenya has increased more than fourfold in less than two years with half a million on the brink of starvation. Ethiopia too, is witnessing a staggering rise of malnutrition cases while Somalia further gets entangled into their hunger crises caused by poverty, famine and the 17 month ongoing clashes between the rebels and the government.
The sudden disruption on global supply chains due to Ukraine and Russia and a brutal drought has also added to further deteriorating the hunger crises in parts of Africa.
The World Food Programme (WFP) has stated that it needs $473 million to respond to the urgent needs in the affected areas within six months. An appeal in February raised less than four percent.
Somalia alone is currently facing a severe drought in 80 percent of the country. Around 12 million children are reportedly acutely malnourished. Pregnant and breastfeeding mums will not receive adequate lifesaving nutrition due to the low coverage of the Targeted Supplementary Feeding Programme (TSFP)and other nutrition preventative programs across the country.
The lack of funding has led to the WFP halting all Preventative Nutrition Interventions in Somalia and has reduced the coverage for the treatment of modern acute malnutrition. Experts warn that if immediate financial action isn’t taken, the world will witness the same outcome as 2011 which led to the death of nearly 260,000 people.
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