Special Assistant to the President Gayle Smith today reported that figures of 29,000 kids dying in the last 90 days due to famine in East Africa.
East Africa is facing the worst drought in 60 years, and the UN has declared that famine now affects five regions in Somalia and predicts that it could expand throughout the southern Somalia.
Dr. Jill Biden led a delegation to Kenya to view firsthand the situation on the ground.
“Dr. Jill Biden’s trip to Kenya, Senator Frist agreed to join us very early on – to highlight the crisis in the Horn of Africa and basically help mobilize both an American response, but also a global response to a crisis that is acute – but to also underscore the fact that there is a lot we can about it; that we can get assistance to people; that the people in Kenya and Ethiopia, while adversely affected, are in a better position today than they might have been because of things that have been done over the last 10 years.” – Ms. Smith
According to Mrs. Smith, they visited the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute, which is supported by the U.S. Government, as a way of highlighting that there are things they can do to reduce the prevalence of famine in the future.
“We traveled to the Dadaab refugee complex, where Dr. Biden, Senator Frist, and the rest of us were able to both see the relief operations that are going on and meet with many of the Somali refugees that have recently walked to Kenya from inside Somalia.” -Ms. Smith
