By July 2011, the number of people identified in the Government’s revised Humanitarian Requirements Document (HRD) as requiring relief food assistance had increased by 47%, to 4.56 million. The largest increases were recorded in Oromia (178%) and SNNPR (187%), and the 1.4 million people in Somali targeted for relief food assistance constitute approximately one-third of the region’s population.

There are currently 3.2 million people needing food aid assistance, and numbers are expected to increase in the coming weeks. Rates of Global Acute Malnutrition for children under five have exceeded and in some instances doubled the emergency thresholds in Turkana, Marsabit, Wajir and Mandera districts. A mid-season Kenya Food Security Steering Group (KFSSG) assessment in May 2011 found that up to 3.5 million people may soon require food aid assistance.

Although rainfall fluctuations and drought are intrinsic features of Djibouti's semi-arid climate, the current drought far exceeds normal variation. Insufficient rainfall since 2005 – with less than 50% of the normal average recorded since September 2007 – has had a direct and life-threatening impact upon the most vulnerable people of Djibouti, particularly pastoralists and rural dwellers. During the last rainy season, two-thirds of the country received less than 10 mm of rain, according to Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), causing the depletion of water reserves, deterioration of livestock health and milk production, massive loss of livestock, and the resulting destruction of livelihoods and sources of income.

Somalia is currently facing the most serious food and nutrition crisis in the world in terms of both scale and severity and the humanitarian community needs to immediately scale up its operations to save lives and prevent further deterioration. On 20 July, a famine was declared in two regions of southern Somalia: southern Bakool and Lower Shabelle. Famine is declared when acute malnutrition rates among children exceed 30%; more than two people per 10,000 die per day; and people are not able to access food and other basic necessities.