22 million people are at risk of starvation in the drought-ravaged Horn of Africa, the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) warned on Friday.
"The world needs to act now to protect the most vulnerable communities from the threat of widespread famine in the Horn of Africa. There is still no end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must get the resources needed to save lives and stop people plunging into catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation," WFP executive director David Beasley said.
According to the WFP, the number of affected people will continue to climb, while "the severity of hunger will deepen if the next rainy season... fails and the most vulnerable people do not receive humanitarian relief."
"Needs will remain high into 2023 and famine is now a serious risk, particularly in Somalia" where nearly half the population of 15 million is seriously hungry," it continued, adding that $418 million is needed over the next six months in order to help the most affected.
Earlier this week, the first vessel transporting wheat to support the WFP's humanitarian operation in the Horn of Africa left the port of Yuzhny in Ukraine, under the Istanbul grain deal signed by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN in late July.