US Mission Geneva

The campaign is designed to expand American awareness of the severity of the famine and deprivation plaguing the region, to encourage Americans to convey that message to others and to build support for the nonprofit organizations at the forefront of saving lives and easing suffering in the region.

The United States is deeply concerned by the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, the famine that is occurring in parts of Somalia, the ongoing conflict within Somalia, and the escalating refugee crisis across the region.

Famine conditions are creeping across southern Somalia, reports an analysis group, with six regions of the country now affected and 750,000 people now facing “imminent starvation.”

USAID’s Shah said that the United States is committed to relieving the crisis of the current moment, but also to helping the region develop better agricultural practices to break a recurring pattern of food shortages.

The United States is deeply concerned by the humanitarian emergency in the Horn of Africa, the famine that is underway in parts of Somalia, and the escalating refugee crisis across the region. A large-scale international response is underway to prevent the further decline of an already dire situation, but there will be no quick fix.

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Biden, has led a U.S. delegation to the Horn of Africa to mobilize a global response to the region’s worst drought in more than 60 years, which the United Nations estimates has left at least 12.4 million people in urgent need of food, water and medical care.

President Obama authorized an additional $105 million for urgent humanitarian relief efforts in the Horn of Africa. U.S. assistance will continue funding the urgently needed food, health, shelter, water and sanitation assistance to those who desperately need help.

The U.N. Refugee Agency reported August 5 that the number of Somali refugees arriving at three camps located at Dadaab, Kenya, has increased to almost 1,500 a day in the first four days of August. That’s an increase from an average of 1,300 a day in July.

Famine has reached new areas of Somalia, according to an August 3 analysis of conditions in the region, and food insecurity in other parts of the eastern African country will likely reach famine levels within the next six weeks.