Extreme hunger threatens 28 million people in East Africa- Oxfam

Up to 28 million people in East Africa are at risk of extreme hunger due to hikes in food and commodity prices most of which is as a result of the Ukraine war and potential lack of rain this March, non-profit organisation Oxfam warned.

According to the organization, there is a real chance that the international community will not respond adequately. The development organization Oxfam warns about this today.

Millions of people in East Africa are already experiencing severe food insecurity. Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are experiencing the driest weather in 40 years, meanwhile, South Sudan is tackling ongoing flooding, the group said.

“The effects of the Ukrainian conflict on the global food system will reverberate around the world, but it will be the poorest and most vulnerable people who will be hit hardest and fastest,” said Gabriela Bucher, Oxfam’s executive director.

“Rising food prices are a sledgehammer for millions of people already suffering from multiple crises, and are making the massive shortage of aid potentially deadly.”

Describing the global response as “woefully underfunded” a press release stated that only 3% of the $6bn (£4.5bn) United Nations (UN) 2022 humanitarian appeal for Ethiopia, Somalia and South Sudan had been funded.

East African countries get up to 90% of their wheat from Ukraine and Russia, the press statement said.

One farmer said the lack of food and water is impacting his cattle: “Due to the droughts our donkeys have perished and the ones remaining are too weak to pull carts,” Ahmed Mohamud Omar from Wajir County, Kenya, said.

“I think about what will my family eat, where will their next meal come from, whether I will get the daily jerrycan of water,” he continued.