Oxfam installs a new water tank and latrines on the outskirts of IFO camp. The three camps in Dadaab (Ifo, Dagahaley and Haghadera) are overflowing with inhabitants and so Oxfam is helping people sheltering on the edge. Hundreds of people are sharing one latrine. Photo: Jo Harrison/Oxfam
World Food Programme Executive Director Josette Sheeran warned an emergency meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome today that the current catastropic drought in East Africa could widen significantly unless immediate action is undertaken.
East Africa faces a "triple threat" of drought, high food prices and conflict risked exacerbating the crisis even further, Sheeran said. The WFP is rapidly "scaling up" its relief work in the region where 12 million people are already directly impacted by the worst drought in over 60 years. The organization begins airlifting highly nutritious food to Somalia later this week.
“Many of the women I met in Somalia and Kenya over the past few days had lost their children and had no one to depend on but the humanitarian agencies on the ground. I saw dozens of children who were too far gone and were not going to make it."
Belanesh, 8, her twin brothers Endeas and Galatea and their mother, Kabiwish, 30, from the Wondogenet area of SNNPR
Belanesh: “I am here because I am hungry. My father is very sick and can’t farm. The babies are not well. My mother is not able to feed them properly. I carry one for her, while she takes the other. They are quite heavy and they cry. My stomach feels empty. Sometimes I am quite sad as I’m hungry. But I am trying to help my mother. I am also getting sick. The babies are coughing – they are not well.”
Kabiwish: “There is no milk in the breast for my babies. I feel a lot on myself. I have to support my husband. I am ill from malaria, but I am in charge of finding food for the house. There is so much more load on mothers and women. Women are more vulnerable in every way. We have to care for the family, and we do not have time to care for ourselves. Look around here at this centre. There are no men here to collect food, just women with their children. As I am breastfeeding, it is even an extra responsibility. Plan is giving me some extra food, to try to make me healthy enough to feed my babies.” Photo by Plan International
Sheeran arrived at this morning's meeting immediately upon her return from Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia. (Soure: WFP World Must Act Now To Avert Catastrophe In Horn Of Africa
Mark Bowden, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Somalia says southern Somalia has been hit by 'a perfect storm,' leading to famine being declared in two of its southern districts. link
“What happened was that the sorghum production locally was very badly hit," said Bowden. "That had a knock-on effect in the local economy and caused massive price inflation. So you got people's reserves and assets, which were being held in livestock, but not camels, were severely reduced. At the same time, food prices went up, including imported food, and they had 270 percent price inflation.”
The UN says $1.5 billion are needed for relief efforts.
In The World Today, Simon Lauder reports from Somalia, where the UN confirms tens of thousands of deaths have already occurred as the al Shabaab militia renews its prohibition on international assistance into southern Somalia and denies the existance of famine. (Listen to the program here)
SOMALIAN MAN: This drought has affected us mentally and psychologically. It has killed two of my children. They starved in front of my eyes. We had no property as we had already sold our land and farms in order to escape from the hunger.
Please Read Below For the Fold For Links to How YOU Can Help!
HELP
Kos EcoJustice Team Africa Top 3 Choices for Donations to Horn of Africa Crisis
• Save the Children**
• MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERES/Doctors Without Borders*
• The World Food Programme: Fill the Cup: (THE WFP needs $200 million just to meet this year's needs in the Horn of Africa.) **
ADDITIONAL IDEAS
• Care International
• UNICEF: Donate to Save Children in Horn of Africa Crisis
• FreeRice- donates 10 grains of rice to the WFP for each answer you answer correctly.
• The HungerSite - Click to give free food.
• WFT: 10 Ways You Can Help
East Africa Famine Facts
• 12 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance
• Over 2 million children under the age of five who are suffering from malnutrition; 480,000 are severely malnourished
• UN declares famine in two regions of southern Somalia
• Women are disproportionally affected by the drought as they are the last to eat when food is limited.
• Aid response nearly $1 billion short of what is needed
What is a Famine
Most major aid agencies - the FAO, the WFP, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, Save the Children UK, CARE International, the European Commission Joint Research Centre and Oxfam - only describe a crisis as a famine when the situation on the ground reaches level five on the Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system. This means:
* at least 20% of the population has access to fewer than 2,100 kilocalories of food a day
* acute malnutrition in more than 30% of children
* two deaths per 10,000 people, or four child deaths per 10,000 children every day
There are three different categories of famine -- supply-based, food consumption-based and mortality-based -- and five definitions: (See Wikipedia: Famine Scales). The Levels range from Level 1 (Food Secure) to Level 5 (Extreme Famine). Currently, the UN has established a Level 3 (Famine) exists: a situation in which mortality rate ranges from 5-10,000 per day.
Clear signs of social breakdown; markets begin to collapse; coping strategies exhausted and survival strategies (migration in search of help, abandonment of weaker members of the community) adopted; affected population identifies food scarcity as the major societal problem.
Magnitude scale:
Category A: Minor Famine: 0-999
Category B: Moderate famine Mortality Range:1,000-9,999
Category C: Major famine 10,000-99,999
Category D Great famine 100,000-999,999
Category E Catastrophic famine 1,000,000 and over
Resources
•BBC: What you Need to Know
• Q&A: BBC
• Al Jazeera Horn of Africa (english)
• How Bad is the Horn of Africa Drought: AlertNet Q&A:
• PBS Newshour: PhotoEssay: 7/11
• Guardian Interactive Horn of Africa Drought Map
• Why doesn't a drought go away when it rains?
• Oxfam: Food crisis in Wajir, Kenya
• Fighting Famine in Southern Africa: Steps out of the Crisis. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) recently released a report outlining sustainable options for ending hunger and poverty, tailored to address famine in Africa.
Coverage @ KOS
This is the latest in a series of diaries covering the Horn Of Africa Crisis. Please provide links in comments below to other diaries omitted from coverage below. This series is being run through the Ecojustice Group.
HoundDog on 7/22: Al Qaeda Linked Militants Vow to Block Humanitarian Aid To Starving Somalis: Part 2
HoundDog on 7/22: Worst Drought in 60 Years Brings Famine To Millions in Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia. Aid is Blocked
boatsie on 7/22: Somalia: "This is the Children's Famine"
The Troubador on 7/22: My Cousins are about to Die
rebel ga on 7/18: Worst Drought In 60 Years For Somalia, Kenya And Ethiopia!
boatsie on 7/14: East Africa Drought: You say La Niña & I'll say ... HELP!
boatsie on 7/12: East Africa: Famine II
boatsie on 7/11: Famine Threatens 11 Million in Horn of Africa
GlowNZ on Sunday, 7/10: People are Starving
Stranded Wind on Sunday, 7/10: Somalia's Dying Time
Social Media
Twitter: #HornofAfrica, #drought, #famine
Facebook: Horn of Africa
MapSourcing
Regional Drought Response Plan: East Africa Droughts.