Right now, over 20 million people across East Africa are in urgent need of food. ActionAid's local staff in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somaliland are delivering life-saving supplies, such as food and water to those worst affected by the crisis, and are planning to scale up our response. We have decades of experience responding to emergencies - providing immediate relief as well as rebuilding for the long term.
Right now, over 20 million people across East Africa are in urgent need of food. Following 2 seasons of poor rainfall, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and South Sudan are suffering from a third year of drought. This has led to widespread crop failure and livestock deaths, causing families to leave their homes in search of food and water. In Ethiopia , Kenya and Somalia about 15 million people will not have access to clean water this year, and 600,000 children under 5 will suffer severe malnutrition.
We are working to provide children and families with desperately needed food and water. So far, in Kenya, we have supported 93,330 people with food and cash transfers. We plan to scale up our response in 10 counties across Kenya through school food programs in nursery and primary schools. In Ethiopia, we plan to reach 8,750 people in two states with food, water, and livestock feed. We will provide over 10,000 communities in Somaliland with food and water.
Our emergency work is guided by our belief that affected people have the right to lifesaving relief as well as long term support to address underlying inequalities that mean they suffer more. In the long term we will promote the leadership of affected women in order to ensure women's rights are protected and to shift power imbalances in times of crisis, now and in the future. We will also support communities to hold governments and other actors to account on how they respond to crisis.
