Rising food prices are putting millions of people in East Africa at risk of severe hunger and destitution, the UK-based charity Oxfam has warned. [read more]
Droughts, war and poverty have put an estimated nine to 13 million people in the region in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, it says.
The situation has been made worse by rising food prices, with wheat and rice particularly expensive.
A BBC correspondent says some people have started to eat animal feed.
[...]Acute malnutrition
In Somalia, the cost of imported rice increased by up to 350% between the beginning of 2007 and May 2008.
In areas of Ethiopia, the price of wheat has more than doubled over a six-month period, and food prices are expected to remain high until the next harvest in October.
In the areas of East Africa heavily dependent on food imports, such as Somalia, global food price rises are making food more expensive.
- In Somalia, 2.6 million (35% of the population) require emergency assistance, Oxfam says. This could increase to half the population of the country (3.5 million) by the end of 2008. Between 18% and 24% of children are acutely malnourished
- In Ethiopia, the government estimates 4.6 million people are now in need of emergency food assistance. This has more than doubled from 2.2 million in need of help at the beginning of this year. Some 75,000 children are suffering from severe acute malnutrition in drought-stricken areas, the government says
- In Turkana, northern Kenya, an Oxfam survey showed 25% of children are suffering from acute malnutrition, the highest in the country
High malnutrition rates have been reported in several parts of Ethiopia and could increase without an immediate increase in humanitarian assistance.
An idea is starting to form in my head even as I read this. I'm thinking of getting bottles of multivitamins for the children in the orphanages that I'll be visiting.
(But got to check with them first...)
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