The Horn of Africa is home to about 20 million people who are struggling with food insecurity. The area has seen four droughts in a row, and a fifth one is expected in October. According to USAID Administrator Samantha Power, who recently travelled to some of the most severely affected areas in Somalia and Kenya, “the Horn region has two rainy seasons per year.” She emphasised at a recent speech here in Washington that the Horn of Africa had never experienced four unsuccessful rainy seasons in a row.
“Today’s pasturelands are becoming nothing but dust. In sights that are almost biblical in nature, sickly farm animals are dying. In Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia alone, at least 7 million animals have already perished due to the drought. Simply put, there isn’t enough grass or water to satisfy their needs for both.
The United States government is providing crucial humanitarian aid worth $1.2 billion to the three most badly afflicted nations in the region—Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia—through the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. To save lives, early humanitarian investments are essential.
The United States is giving $668 million to Ethiopia this year alone to help the more than 8.1 million people whose lives are being jeopardised by the catastrophic drought.
More than 4 million Kenyans are on the verge of hunger as a result of the drought, with populations in desert and semi-arid terrain counties being the hardest hit. At least 2.4 million head of livestock and almost 70% of the crops were reported gone by the end of May. Nearly $255 million in emergency food aid as well as other necessary humanitarian and development support is being given to Kenyans by USAID.
And 7.1 million people in Somalia are impacted by this issue. Over 3 million farm animals have perished. Additionally, 1.4 million children will experience acute malnutrition this year.
The United States is giving the people of Somalia $476 million in vital humanitarian and development help, raising the total amount of aid provided by the country this year to more than $707 million.
The United States’ ongoing concern for the welfare of the people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia is demonstrated by this humanitarian assistance. In order to stop widespread hunger and millions of fatalities, Administrator Power urged other partner governments to “help us in dramatically upping their own commitments.”