At the start of 2022, 13 million people were affected by hunger in the Horn of Africa.

At the start of 2023, 22 million people are at risk.

More than 1.7 million people have left their homes in search of water and food, according to a latest report by the World Food Program published on 23 January.

The UN is sounding the alarm, nearly 5.6 million people are already in a situation of acute food insecurity in Somalia, 12 million in Ethiopia and 4.3 million in Kenya.

The region, which generally lives on livestock and agriculture, has lost its crops and livestock.

Crops, ravaged by an invasion of locusts, have been wiped out and herds, lacking water and pasture, destroyed.

More than 9.5 million head of cattle died, according to estimates by the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (Ocha).

An unprecedented drought

Hit hard by climate change, eight of the thirteen rainy seasons have been below normal in the Horn of Africa, according to data from the Center for Climate Risk Studies.

Five consecutive rainy seasons have failed since the end of 2020, causing drought not seen in 40 years in the region.

For now, famine has not been officially declared, as the thresholds necessary to declare it have not been reached, thanks to a financial mobilization at the end of 2022.

In 2011, due to two consecutive poor rainy seasons in the Somalia region, famine killed 260,000 people, half of them children under six.

The current crisis has been aggravated by the war in Ukraine which has caused the increase in the price of cereals and fuels and captured many humanitarian aid funds.

Humanitarian organizations warn that the situation will only get worse in the coming months, since the sixth rainy season, from March to May, is also announced to be below average.


The Horn of Africa just saw an unprecedented fifth straight failed rainy season on record, making it the longest and most severe drought in 70 years #ClimateCrisis #MAPA#ClimateInequality


https://t.co/czjJIEAa3z

— Greenpeace (@Greenpeace) January 26, 2023

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Somalia on the brink of disaster

Somalia is considered a country most affected by famine with more than 7.85 million people affected by drought.

Without the scaling up of humanitarian assistance, “a famine is expected to occur between April and June 2023 in southern Somalia among agro-pastoral populations in Baidoa and Burhakaba districts, and among displaced populations in Baidoa town and Mogadishu. “, announced the UN Humanitarian Coordination Office (Ocha) in December.

The number of people who are last stage before famine according to international terminology is expected to increase from 214,000 to 727,000 by mid-2023, Ocha said.

Nearly two million children across the Horn of Africa "need urgent treatment for severe acute malnutrition, the deadliest form of hunger", according to UNICEF.

730 children had died between January and July 2022 in nutrition centers in Somalia, according to Unicef ​​estimates, a figure considered quite understated.



Surviving in inhumane conditions, lacking water, milk and food, the children are exhausted.

Their bodies have become more vulnerable to diseases (measles, cholera) and their growth is disrupted.

2.7 million children have also dropped out of school and 4 million others are at risk of dropping out of school, accompanying their families or being sent daily in search of food and water.

The director of the NGO Save The Children for Ethiopia, Xavier Joubert, notes: “The needs have become enormous.

Additional funds […] are desperately needed.

Today, only 55.8% of the 5.9 billion dollars requested by the UN to alleviate this crisis in 2023 have been funded.

In 2017, early humanitarian mobilization averted a famine in Somalia.

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