How famine killed 133,000 kids in Somalia

Experts say the tragedy could have been avoided

Children from southern Somalia hold their pots as they line up to receive cooked food
(Image credit: AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh)

A quarter million people died in Somalia's famine between 2010 and 2012, and more than half — 133,000 — were children under age 5, according to the first full-fledged study of the crisis. The study was jointly commissioned by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network. It "confirms that we should have done more" to prevent the calamity, said Philippe Lazzarini, the U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Somalia. Why didn't the world do more to spare so many people from such an agonizing and preventable death? Here, a guide:

How bad was the famine?

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.