Africa's famine: The world's worst food crisis in a half century

Millions of people face starvation as a severe drought and prolonged warfare ravage East Africa

A Somali refugee awaits a medical examination
(Image credit: REUTERS/Kabir Dhanji)

The worst food crisis the world has seen since the Great Chinese Famine of the late 1950s has East Africa in its grip, and international aid groups are struggling to get help to more than 11 million people who might otherwise die of hunger and malnutrition-related diseases. As the hard-to-fathom famine spreads throughout the region, killing crops and wiping out herds of livestock, hundreds of thousands of desperate people are swarming into squalid refugee camps. Here's an overview of the crisis:

What areas are affected?

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