Situation increasingly acute in drought-stricken East Africa - one person dies every 36 seconds
Oxfam recently warned that the situation for people in drought-stricken East Africa is rapidly deteriorating. The most vulnerable areas are fast approaching famine. By the end of the year, it is estimated that one person will die of hunger every 36 seconds. This is an alarming increase since May, when one person died of hunger every 48 seconds. Over six million children are facing, or already suffering from, acute malnutrition.
Photo: Khadija Farah/Oxfam
”Klockan tickar obönhörligt mot svält och fler och fler människor dör när hungern tar ett allt hårdare grepp. Efter fyra säsonger av uteblivna regnperioder håller människorna på att förlora kampen för att överleva – deras boskap har dött, skördar uteblivit och matpriserna ökar på grund av kriget i Ukraina. Varningsklockorna har ringt i månader, men omvärlden har ännu inte vaknat och förstått hur fruktansvärd verkligheten är. Människor lider på grund av klimatförändringar, som de inte har gjort någonting för att orsaka. De rika länder som bidragit mest till klimatkrisen har ett moraliskt ansvar att skydda människor från den skada de har vållat”, säger Parvin Ngala, regionchef för Oxfam i Afrikas horn och Centralafrika.
Oxfam's latest analysis of available data suggests that people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are dying at a higher rate since May. The analysis also suggests dangerous delays in aid to the millions on the brink of starvation.
Photo: Khadija Farah/Oxfam
The population of Somalia is enduring the worst hunger crisis in living memory and the number of people living in famine-like conditions is already higher than during the 2011 famine, when more than a quarter of a million people died. Nearly one in six people in Somalia now face extreme hunger.
Large parts of the region have been affected by four failed rainy seasons, and a fifth is likely imminent. Climate change is making it increasingly difficult to grow crops and has forced pastoralists to abandon their traditional way of life. The crisis has been exacerbated in many places by conflicts, covid-19 and by rising food prices, partly due to the war in Ukraine but also to local food shortages.
The people of South Sudan are also severely affected by a hunger crisis, caused by floods and conflict, but due to lack of available data, it was not possible to include South Sudan in the analysis.