Can famine occur in the 21st Century?

Can famine occur in the 21st Century? Unfortunately it can.

Today UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres convened a press conference in New York to tell the world that without a large and urgent increase in support, twenty million people in four countries face famine in the coming months – Somalia, South Sudan, Yemen, and Nigeria in its North East which has been ravaged by Boko Haram. All four countries have populations badly affected by conflict, and in Somalia the current drought is especially severe.

The UN’s Office for Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimates that more than $4 billion is needed by the end of March to avert famine (note: famine has already been declared in a part of South Sudan). I attended the press conference on behalf of the UN’s development agencies which are working closely with humanitarian agencies to try to avert the famine.

There are action plans for all these countries to scale up food and nutrition support and other services, keep domestic animals alive, support livelihoods, improve water and other infrastructure, support the local disaster risk management authorities where they exist, and more.

But much more funding is needed very fast. I will post a link to where people can donate below. Note also that drought is hitting many other countries in East and Southern African countries hard right now.

Culled from : Helen Clark Facebook Page