Three years of failed rains have left Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda and Somaliland facing one of the worst droughts in recent history.

40 million people in the East and Horn of Africa are desperately in need of food. The global financial crisis has also resulted in skyrocketing of food prices, making food unaffordable  for poor people.

There are already reports of deaths due to starvation - and thought the rains have started, it is too late to save the harvest for millions of people. Forty million need food aid, and the situation is only going to get worse.

ActionAid's response

Women, children and herding communities are the focus of our work. We're providing immediate humanitarian aid, including

• food distribution
• support for water supply
• helping farmers recover their livelihoods
• disaster preparedness work.

Kenya
In Kenya we are supporting irrigation projects, school feeding programmes and running monthly food distributions with food supplied by the World Food Programme, reaching over 255,000 people. We are also beginning seed distribution in these areas to help people grow their own food and not rely on aid.

Uganda
In Uganda, an estimated 1.4 million people remain without enough food. ActionAid is responding in three severely affected districts in the east of the country by providing maize meal, and building food stores supplying 50,000 people in two separate counties. Bean, sorghum, cassava, groundnut seeds and potato vines are being supplied to households in Bukwa and Kumi districts. We have also launched an appeal to help fund a school feeding programme.

Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, more than six million people are hungry, mostly in the southern and eastern parts of the country. Here we are promoting sustainable agriculture in several regions, including training farmers in agricultural techniques to increase the size and variety of their harvest, while conserving soil and water. 

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