PRESS ASSOCIATION -- A £52.25 million emergency aid package has been put together to help millions of drought victims in the Horn of Africa, the Government has announced.
International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell said the cash would be used to support starving people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya hit by the worst drought in over half a century.
Speaking ahead of a visit to Kenya, where he will meet prime minister Raila Odinga and internal security minister George Saitoti, Mr Mitchell admitted the situation was "getting worse" and urged the international community to do more to tackle the crisis.
He said: "People across Britain have responded with great generosity to appeals by British NGOs (non-governmental organisations) working in the Horn of Africa. But the situation is getting worse - and is particularly devastating in Somalia, where families already have to cope with living in one of the most insecure countries in the world.
"More than 3,000 people every day are fleeing over the borders to Ethiopia and Kenya, many of them arriving with starving children. The international community must do more to help not only refugees but also those victims of the drought who remain in Somalia."
The Dadaab camps in Kenya are overflowing with tens of thousands of refugees fleeing the parched landscape in the region where Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya meet.
The World Food Programme estimates that 10 million people already need humanitarian aid and the UN Children's Fund believes more than two million youngsters are malnourished and in need of life-saving action.
The Department for International Development (DFID) said the cash would go towards helping 500,000 people in Somalia, including treatment for nearly 70,000 acutely malnourished children. It will also be used to provide clean drinking water and health care for more than 130,000 people in the Dadaab camps.
In Ethiopia, around 100,000 people in Dolo Ado refugee camps will be helped with access to shelter and clean drinking water as well as targeted treatment of starving children.
The package will also be used to support around 300,000 Kenyans, including special rations to prevent malnutrition in children under the age of five and breastfeeding mothers.