(Nairobi) At least 20 million people face the risk of famine this year due to worsening drought in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday. united.
Posted at 9:01 a.m.
Long months of drought in the Horn of Africa have ravaged crops and livestock and forced many people to leave their homes in search of water and food.
A month after the theoretical start of the rainy season, “the number of people who are hungry due to drought could skyrocket from the current estimate of 14 million to 20 million in 2022”, the WFP said. in a press release.
Thus, six million Somalis, or nearly 40% of the country’s population, face extreme levels of food insecurity and, without improvement, “a very real risk of famine in the coming months”. », Worries the WFP.
In Kenya, 500,000 people are heading for a food crisis, particularly in northern communities that live off livestock.
In Ethiopia, where war has been raging for 17 months in the north, malnutrition rates in the south and southeast have exceeded emergency levels.
The drought in the Horn of Africa is made worse by the conflict in Ukraine, which has contributed to higher food and fuel prices and disrupted supply chains, WFP said.
The agency notes that the lack of funds in this region of the world could lead to a disaster and is appealing for funding of 473 million dollars (438 million euros) over the next six months.
In February, a previous appeal had raised less than 4% of the necessary sums, she notes.
“We know from past experience that to avert a humanitarian disaster, responding quickly is vital, but our ability to initiate the response has been limited by a lack of funding to date,” said Michael Dunford, WFP’s Regional Director for Humanitarian Affairs. ‘East Africa.
In 2017, early humanitarian mobilization averted a famine in Somalia, unlike 2011 when 260,000 people – half of them children under the age of six – died of starvation or hunger-related disorders.
According to experts, climatic events are more frequent and more intense due to climate change.