USAID seeks more aid for famine-hit Horn of Africa

USAID seeks more aid for famine-hit Horn of Africa

Chicago: With escalating humanitarian crisis in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa, the US development agency USAID has asked for more aid to address the “tragic” situation.

“The famine – death rate and malnutrition of children is the tragic reality,” Rajiv Shah, Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) said.

“Over 13.3 million people are suffering from a lack of adequate food intake,” he said.

Shah was speaking at a programme “America’s Role in Food Security and the Horn of Africa Famine” hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA) at Fairmont Hotel here yesterday.

Somalia is the worst affected country in the east African region, where according to International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell, hundreds of people, mainly children, are dying every day.

Reuters.

Famine in the Somalia has piled more misery on the people of the country wracked by a civil war for two decades.

Humanitarian agencies are unable to operate in many parts of the country because they are controlled by al-Shabaab rebels, and they prevent food from reaching the people.

“In September and October when we first started we’ve been prepositioning food supplies and protecting lives. Because of foresight of United States, World Bank and world community an estimated 78 million people who would be highly vulnerable are not. We’ve fed 4.5 million people in the region and vaccinated kids,” he said.

United Nations has already declared famine and emergency conditions in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia.

Shah gave a power point presentation of the work the agency had done for the famine and also discussed US role in Haiti famine.

The drought conditions in the Horn of Africa are affecting more than 13 million people and to date the USAID has provided aid to more than 4.6 million people in the region.

Shah said that Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya is the single largest camp in the world and not much is known about the famine through the media.

“More than half of Americans gave directly to Haiti. We don’t see in news what’s happening here (Horn of Africa),” he said.

The World Bank has already increased aid to countries in the drought-ravaged region to USD 1.88 billion through 2014.

PTI

http://www.firstpost.com/fwire/world-fwire/usaid-seeks-more-aid-for-famine-hit-horn-of-africa-134789.html

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