Right now, today, children in East Africa are facing a desperate crisis caused by prolonged drought, soaring food prices and conflict. This crisis is getting worse and we need to act now to save lives.

Children and women are the most vulnerable. More than 2 million children under five in Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are acutely malnourished, including almost 500,000 children suffering from life-threatening severe acute malnutrition. A famine has been declared in parts of Southern Somalia, and up to 250 children are dying every day. That’s one child every six minutes.

 

We are scaling up our life-saving efforts for children with therapeutic food, safe drinking water, and vaccinations to prevent the spread of killer diseases such as measles.

UNICEF is the main provider of emergency food in all three countries, but we desperately need more funds in order to help us reach every child.

Your donations will go directly to UNICEF’s East Africa Children’s Crisis‚ for the children affected by the crisis. Should the money raised exceed the funding requirement for this appeal‚ your gift will go to our Children’s Emergency Fund.