East Africa Drought ‘the Most Severe Humanitarian Emergency in the World’

By Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs Reporter, The Toronto Star

An internally displaced Somali woman holds her child inside their makeshift shelter after receiving traditional treatments in southern Mogadishu July 14, 2011. The Horn of Africa is in the grip of a major food crisis, with millions of people severely affected in drought-stricken areas of Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda, according to the United Nations. ISMAIL TAXTA/REUTERS

Some watch their children die on the dusty footpath. Others give birth to underweight babies on the roadside, with little hope that they will live to reach safety.

Young boys seeking jobs may end up in virtual slavery, while girls are sold in marriage in exchange for livestock to put food on the table a few more weeks. Read more