Oxfam Fact Sheet: Food Crisis in East Africa

Parts of East Africa are the driest they have been in 60 years. But punishing weather is not the only challenge families here face: deep poverty and decades of marginalization have left them with few resources on which to fall back as the price of food soars and water shortages persist. In Somalia, the crisis has escalated into famine.

Right now, Oxfam aims to reach three million people with clean water, food, and basic sanitation services. We are already helping more than two million people by drilling deep wells and rehabilitating existing water supplies, vaccinating animals to ensure their strength during this time of great stress, providing people with cash to buy food, and offering sanitation and public health promotion to stem the spread of waterborne diseases.