Despite need, donors struggle to raise funds for famine in Horn of Africa

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Despite need, donors struggle to raise funds for famine in Horn of Africa
Somali men carry their malnourished children to a hospital in Mogadishu, where thousands of people seek relief from the famine. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
Despite need, donors struggle to raise funds for famine in Horn of Africa
Somali men carry their malnourished children to a hospital in Mogadishu, where thousands of people seek relief from the famine. AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Despite need, donors struggle to raise funds for famine in Horn of Africa

By
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Children are bearing the brunt of the famine in Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti. Five hundred million are on the verge of starvation.

For many reasons, international aid has been slow to arrive. So far, the U.S. Fund for UNICEF has raised over $6 million for the Horn of Africa. To put that in perspective, during an equivalent time period following the earthquake in Haiti, the organization raised $45 million.

Caryl Stern is president and CEO of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She spends her time trying to convince donors that the crisis is bigger than they can imagine. She joins us to make sense of the surprising lack of response.