[ 2011-06-08 ]

East Africa faces 'world's worst food security crisis'
The world's worst food security crisis is
continuing in the eastern Horn of Africa, a US
agency has warned.

The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (Fewsnet)
said areas of particular concern were in Ethiopia,
Kenya and Somalia.

It said large-scale emergency assistance was
urgently needed "to save lives and treat acute
malnutrition" in the region.

It also stressed that the current humanitarian
response was "inadequate".

In a statement, Fewsnet said the eastern Horn of
Africa "has experienced two consecutive seasons of
significantly below-average rainfall, resulting in
one of the driest years since 1995".

It said that crops had failed and local cereal
prices remained very high.

"This is the most severe food security emergency
in the world today," the statement said.

In southern Ethiopia and some pastoral areas of
Somalia, the agency said, "poor households are
unable to access the basic food supplies needed
for survival".

Fewsnet also said that recent nutrition surveys
suggested that global acute malnutrition remained
above 20% in the region, and more than seven
million people needed humanitarian assistance.

Source - BBC

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