World Food Programme

Drought in the Horn of Africa, coupled with conflict in Somalia, has affected over 13 million people. WFP is implementing food operations in five countries in the region (Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda). This page brings together a range of information on the hunger crisis in the Horn and WFP's emergency response.

• The rains have started in the Horn but several consecutive seasons of drought have left millions of people requiring food assistance until the next harvest comes in.
• WFP is providing food assistance for 7.8 million people in five countries and is working towards reaching a target figure of 10.9 million with food.
• WFP is moving life-saving food and nutritional products by sea, air and road into Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia to address hunger among the most vulnerable.
• WFP is providing highly fortified supplementary food products for children to prevent malnutrition in the first two years of life (when it can lead to irreversible damage to children’s minds and bodies.)
• In Somalia, WFP is focusing its efforts on distributing food to as many people as it can reach in areas which it has access. We will scale up to meet the urgent food needs of some 1.5 million people in those regions.
• In Ethiopia WFP is currently reaching 3.8 million people with emergency food assistance. Taking into account its other programmes, WFP will feed 7.1 million people in 2011.
• In Kenya, Where 3.75 million people are affected by drought, WFP is reaching nearly 2 million people with emergency food aid – this includes over half a million refugees in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps.
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The Horn of Africa encompasses Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti and Kenya. It’s one of the most food insecure regions in the world, characterised by frequent droughts and conflict. Concern about the impact of drought in the region escalated in June, when the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, FEWSNET, reported that this year was among the driest since 1950.

Learn more about: Kenya| Ethiopia | Somalia