The situation in large parts of Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan is now worse than what preceded the last disaster in 2011 that killed more than a quarter of a million people. Four failed rainy seasons in succession have decimated livestock, left pastures barren, destroyed crops and caused widespread hunger and malnutrition. Disease is spreading and hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to migrate in search of grazing land, water and humanitarian aid.
Then, 13 million people needed humanitarian support to survive the resulting famine. Concern says 23 million people need humanitarian support in the region but international donors are not responding. The limited aid that has been supplied is stretching only half as far normal because of a doubling in the price of imported maize since the war on Ukraine.
Concern regional director Amina Abdulla said five million children were estimated to be malnourished across the five countries, with 1.6 million of them severely malnourished.
“Without an urgent response and scaling up of the humanitarian support, we risk 350,000 of these children dying,” she said.
Abdulla said 500,000 people were now categorised as being one step away from famine.
350,000 severely malnourished children face death in drought-stricken East Africa - Independent.ie
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