Drought, Famine Threaten 22 Million People in Horn of Africa

Famine threatens about 22 million people from southern Ethiopia to northern Kenya, passing through Somalia, as a result of an unprecedented drought since the end of 2020 and is expected to continue in the coming months.

The number of people threatened with hunger in the Horn of Africa has almost doubled since the beginning of 2022 when it was 13 million.

Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that 5.6 million people currently suffer from "acute food insecurity" in Somalia, 12 million in Ethiopia, and 4.3 million in Kenya. The people of this region live mainly from livestock farming and farming, according to the United Nations (UN).

More than 1.7 million people have been forced to leave their homes in search of water and food, according to the latest World Food Program (WFP) report published on January 23, and the Horn of Africa is one of the regions most affected by climate change.

Since 2016, eight out of 13 rainy seasons have not seen sufficient precipitation, according to data from the Center for Climate Risk Studies, a reference body of academics, and the Famine Early Warning Network.