Horn of Africa Famine

Details
On July 20, the United Nations officially declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia, the first time a famine has been declared by the UN in nearly thirty years. The 2011 Horn of Africa famine is a famine occurring in several regions in the Horn of Africa as a result of a severe drought that is affecting the entire Eastern Africa region. The drought, said to be "the worst in 60 years", has caused a severe food crisis across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya that threatens the livelihood of more than 12 million people. Other countries in and around the Horn of Africa, including Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan and parts of Uganda, are also affected by a food crisis

Causes?
Two primary causes of this famine

Severe Drought Violent Conflicts

Severe Drought
Weather conditions over the Pacific, including an unusually strong La Nia, have interrupted seasonal rains for two consecutive seasons. The rains failed this year in Kenya and Ethiopia, and for the last two years in Somalia. In many areas, the precipitation rate during the main rainy season from late March to early June was less than 30% of the average of 1995-2010.

The lack of rain led to widespread loss of livestock, as high as 40%60% in some areas, which decreased milk production as well as supplementing a poor harvest. Rains are not expected to return until September.

Armed Conflict
Al-Shabaab is a Islamist terrorist group fighting to overthrow the government of Somalia. It has been at war with the Somali Central Government for over two decades and has about 50% of the country under its control. The civil war has led to destruction of farmland, infrastructure, and has diverted much aid from the central government.

Al-Shabaab
Al-Shabaab originally banned foreign aid organizations from providing aid in southern Somalia in 2009, describing them as Western spies and Christian crusaders. The ban included the United Nations Development Programme, World Food Programme and CARE International. Red Cross has been allowed to deliver aid but, only to some of the effected regions. Some 3.2 million people are still out of the reach of aid organizations.

Effects
Staple prices have risen by up to 240% in southern Somalia, 117% in south-eastern Ethiopia, and 58% in northern Kenya. Malnutrition rates among children have reached 30 percent in parts of Kenya and Ethiopia, and over 50% in southern Somalia. At least 11.3 million people in the region are in need of food aid, with 3.7 million of them in Somalia

Over 800,000 people have fled from the drought-affected parts of southern Somalia to neighboring countries, in particular Kenya and Ethiopia.

Effects continued
Refugees have put additional strain on already struggling countries, worsening their situations. More than 1,400 refugees continue to arrive every day from southern Somalia. The overall mortality rate is 7.4 out of 10,000 per day, which is more than seven times as high as the "emergency" rate of 1 out of 10,000 per day. Diseases such as measles, cholera, and malaria have broken out in Refugee camps.

7.7 per 10,000

It might not seem like a lot but 11.3 million people effected by the famine. 11,300,000/10,000= 1130 (10,000s in 11.3 million)

1130*7.7=

8,701 people a day!

Mitigation
A famine can be prevented by securing alternative water sources or having food stocks to accommodate for the lack of growth. A disaster on such a scale is hard to avoid for many developing countries, especially ones that are suffering from civil war & recovering from recent famines. Given such circumstances the only hope for immediate aid is for more developed nations to provide aid. However, to prevent such a disaster from happening again, investment in following should be made.
Dams & Canals Famine resistant crops Food Stores

Many of the arrivals have walked for days or weeks, desperate to escape not only from the drought in Somalia but also its long civil war. Waiting time for water is on average 30 hours.

Children aged five and under are especially vulnerable to malnutrition and the illnesses that frequently accompany it, such as pneumonia and diarrhea. Here, two-year-old Aden Salaad looks up toward his mother as she bathes him in a tub at a Doctors Without Borders hospital.

The malnourished children receive high-energy food. Babies are also measured and weighed.

Dagahaley refugee camp, located close to the Kenyan border with Somalia, was originally designed in the early 1990s to accommodate 90,000 people but the UN estimates over four times as many reside there.

Kenya: A success story

After a previous drought in 2006, Kenya decided to invest heavily in food stores and farming infrastructure. The country obtained grants and loans from Western countries and built improved irrigation systems along with food stores.

Since the appearance of this drought in early Feb, Kenya has been systematically handing out food its affected regions and has recorded no loss of human life.

TA DA!