KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton traveled to Kenya on August 4 to discuss political, development, and humanitarian issues in the region with high-level Government of Kenya (GoK) officials. During the visit, Secretary Clinton announced plans to provide up to approximately $54 million in U.S. Government (USG) humanitarian assistance the Horn of Africa. The additional contribution of humanitarian aid will help meet emergency food and non-food needs among drought-affected populations in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia.

• An estimated 9.1 million people, including local and refugee populations, remain in need of humanitarian assistance in the Horn of Africa, according to the U.N. Although the overall population in need has decreased from 13.3 million people at the height of the crisis, late and erratic rains in some areas, ongoing conflict, and high food prices warrant a sustained humanitarian response. Relief agencies are building on existing interventions to improve aid delivery and strengthen the ability of communities to prevent, mitigate, prepare for, and respond to future droughts in the region, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

• Nutrition conditions continue to deteriorate throughout Ethiopia, particularly in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) Region. As of June 30, the Government of Ethiopia (GoE) reported 371 nutrition “hotspot” districts throughout the country, including 192 priority one districts, which are characterized by high food insecurity, moderate to high levels of acute malnutrition, and increased therapeutic feeding program admissions, according to the GoE Emergency Nutrition Coordination Unit. Relief agencies have provided outpatient therapeutic program support in nearly 96 percent of priority one districts and continue to implement targeted supplementary feeding programs in all priority one districts in SNNP.

• In FY 2011 and FY 2012 to date, the USG has provided more than $1.24 billion in humanitarian assistance to the Horn of Africa. USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) has provided nearly $64.3 million to date in FY 2012 for agriculture and food security, economic recovery and market systems (ERMS), health, nutrition, protection, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions, as well as for humanitarian coordination, information management, and the distribution of relief commodities. USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) has provided approximately $454.7 million in food-related assistance to the region to date in FY 2012, while the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (State/PRM) has provided more than $75.3 million for protection and refugee assistance activities.