WFP: 22m people facing severe hunger crisis in Horn of Africa

The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) says extreme drought has deepened hunger in the Horn of Africa.

In its latest regional situation update issued on Thursday, WFP said across the Horn of Africa, mainly Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, 22 million people were currently facing a severe hunger crisis after four consecutive failed rainy seasons.

“Alarmingly, this figure is expected to increase, with a fifth poor rainy season forecast by the end of the year,’’ the WFP warned.

The organisation said disruptions to grain supplies and rising prices caused by the crisis in Ukraine have “pushed more and more people to the brink” in regions already reeling from skyrocketing costs resulting from the intersection of climate change, conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We do not have the luxury of just focusing on what needs to be done today,’’ a statement quoted Michael Dunford, WFP’s regional director for Eastern Africa, as saying.

“We also need to start preparing for the next shock whether that is the next drought, the next flood or the next crisis.”

The agency said in Ethiopia, food prices were at an all-time high and had been so since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

It added that pastoralists in the southern and eastern lowlands of Ethiopia “have powerlessly watched another predator, drought, reduce their livestock to skin and bones”.

According to WFP, 3.9 million children were severely malnourished in Ethiopia alone, or roughly half of all those suffering from malnutrition across the Horn of Africa.

“This is the worst drought, the driest it’s ever been in 40 years. So, we are entering a whole new phase in climate change,’’ Dunford said.

The WFP further indicated that extreme food and water scarcity had killed around seven million livestock across the Horn of Africa, endangering the livelihoods of pastoralists, who rely on them for food and income.

“The fragile ecosystems where they live, and the way of life these lands have sustained for generations, are gradually collapsing due to erratic climatic patterns,’’ it further warned.