Eighty kilometers from Kenya’s border with Somalia, the Dadaab Refugee Complex—already the world’s largest refugee camp—has seen on average 1,500 exhausted and starving men, women and children arrive each day. Fleeing from famine that is now gripping a large portion of southern Somalia largely inaccessible to aid workers, thousands of refugees have walked days—or even weeks—to reach help. The United Nations estimates that over 12.4 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid, including food, water and medical care, across the drought-stricken eastern Horn of Africa.
USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah and Dr. Jill Biden talking to a UNHCR worker in Dadaab. Photo Credit: USAID/East Africa
Yesterday, I arrived in Dadaab with representatives from across the United States Government, including Dr. Jill Biden, Special Assistant to the President Gayle Smith, Senator Bill Frist and Assistant Secretary of State Eric Schwartz. The trip underscored the commitment of the U.S. Government—the single largest donor in the region—to respond to the immediate crisis with life-saving assistance and investments in long-term solutions to hunger. Ultimately, we know that it is smarter and cheaper to invest in food security than face the consequences of famine and food riots.
In Dadaab, we visited the Dagahaley camp’s reception center, where newly arriving refugees receive a medical screening and three weeks’ worth of food to tide them over until they complete a formal registration process. The USAID-funded rations include high energy biscuits, corn meal, vegetable oil, yellow split peas, salt and sugar. Medical staff weigh the children and measure the circumference of their small arms to determine their nutrition status. Today, the worst-affected regions in Somalia have the highest malnutrition level in the world, with nearly half the population malnourished.
Because the high rates of acute malnutrition make children extremely susceptible to deadly diseases, we are also aggressively pursuing public health interventions, including therapeutic feeding and immunizations.
New arrival family getting initial 3 week distribution (before formal registration). Photo Credit: USAID/East Africa
The Government of Kenya is working closely with the GAVI Alliance to administer pneumococcal vaccines to protect every child from pneumonia at the point of registration.
I met one Somali woman who traveled by donkey cart with her two children for 12 days looking for food. It is hard to believe that she counted among the lucky, as many families have lost children along the way.
It does not have to be this way. With Feed the Future, President Obama’s initiative on food security, we are working with the Kenyan government and smallholder farmers to achieve sustainable, long-term and life-saving agriculture development.
Tomorrow, I will share with you some exciting innovations in agriculture that we saw on our visit to the Kenya Institute for Agriculture—innovations that could help ensure we never face another famine again.
Learn more about the U.S. response to the crisis in the Horn of Africa.
I saw on telivision the hunger and medical needs of these peoples. My heart was simply broked to know that the children dying because of this famine,as are the men and women.I would like to donate what i can for this terrible situation. I myself have experienced this so when i see this i know how it was to go hungry for days at a time.So please contact me and let me know what i can do, and where to send a donation. ‘GOD bless the people of Samolia and those who are helping them. Maureen Vitolo
I am so very unhappy that America does not look after America and Americans first. This is one of the many trojan horse arguments that American Presidents who are tied to the Third World do not regognize. It was so very obvious on the Bushes and is also painfully apparent in the case of President Obama.
It seems that the very wealthy Queen Elizabeth of Great Britain really owes an obligation here, just as she might owe an obligation to India. We need our own money and we need the people on the forefront who are really representative of our interest, rather then those who will use guilt that isn’t even ours to gain there own ends. I hope that this is not true of you Mr. Rajiv. If this is the case, then the Bidens need to be a little more savvy. I really hate to hear anymore about the Tea Party positions – which side of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, does every American have to be on? These issues handled improperly will be unhealthy for the G7 country that we know America to be and that we want America to stay.
You need to go and collect what ever is owed to you and so should Kenya. The Arab countries that won’t give money to Pakistan could be solicited, as well as the Fayeds. Please knock on the right door.
I want to be all that I can be and I wish the same for all Americans. It is the only way that we can keep our much deserved position in the World. We will not be a victim of “Trading Places”
I am horrified by the callousness and selfishness of Lisa A. Johnson, above. It is a matter of life and death for these people and as Americans, we have the means to offer some help — even if we have to borrow it. I would hope that if I were in their situation, those who could help, would help. I am most happy to have my tax dollars go for this purpose rather than many other issues that they are spent on. I am not terribly religious, but I do believe that we were all created equally and these people deserve as much a chance to live as any of us. I only wish we could do more.