The United Nations officially declared a famine in parts of Somalia Wednesday amid the worst drought in east Africa in more than 50 years.
Under the UN's five-stage classification system, the "famine" designation means that at least two people per 10,000 are dying everyday and there are less than 7.5 litres of water available per person per day.
In a region already hit hard by rising global food prices, the African drought has devastated domestic farming and intensified price spikes. According to the BBC, the drought has already affected more than 10 million people across the Horn of Africa, and has sent tens of thousands of Somalis fleeing to neighbouring Kenya and Ethiopia.
The drought is the result of poor rains over the past two years, likely exacerbated by climate change. The next rainy season is not expected until October, but meteorologists do not anticipate rains to return in full until 2012.
The drought has been devastating for smallholder farmers like Priscilla Eduru, a 63-year-old widowed mother of 10 from Kenya. After a series of droughts wiped out all of her livestock in the past few years, Priscilla and her family have survived on a diet of wild fruit, which they harvest from the bush. The poisonous fruit must be boiled for hours to remove their toxins and have little nutritional value.
"Most of our children are malnourished at present because we lost all our livestock," Priscilla says. "There is no nutritious food to feed the children with."
- Seven years old Ayan Ali Dahout looks at the camera in front of a pile of carcasses next to her village of Kalankal. She comes from a family of two other children. In the past three months they have lost half of their 60 heads of cattle because of the drought.
Priscilla said this year's drought is the worst she's ever seen. In the past, farmers could move their livestock to find grass and water, or they could trade in their animals for relatively cheap store-bought food. This year, those options are no longer available.
"There is no livestock to sell," Priscilla said. "And the worst is that there is not any food left to buy when you do have the money."
Until the rains allow them to start planting again, the people of east Africa will be dependent on international food aid. Since the start of the crisis, ActionAid has helped provide food and water to more than 200,000 people in the region.
But more needs to be done.
ActionAid Australia has joined with its partners around the globe to help raise emergency funds for those affected by the ongoing drought. For more information on the drought or to make a donation, please visit our Web site.
