A recently released U.S. report estimates that the devastating drought and famine in Somalia have killed over 29,000 children under the age of 5. The Horn of Africa crisis is the worse drought in the area in 60 years. Added to this, the U.N. estimates that 640,000 Somali children are acutely malnourished.
Out of Somalia’s population of 7.5 million people, the U.N. says that 3.2 million are in need of immediate lifesaving assistance.
Complicating matters is that aid efforts are being stymied by al-Qaida-linked militants who control much of the country's most desperate areas. This group has denied a famine is taking place, and won't give access to the World Food Program.
This has caused tens of thousands of refugees to flee the area in hopes of finding food at camps in Ethiopia, Kenya and in Mogadishu, the Somali capital.
While hundreds of millions of dollars have already been contributed to fight the famine, the U.N. says it requires hundreds of millions more, according to the Associated Press.