People don’t start dying until a famine is declared.

By the time a famine is declared, it’s usually too late for many people. Of the 260,000 people who died from hunger or hunger-related illnesses during Somalia’s 2011 famine, nearly half died before the famine was officially declared. Our goal should be to avert a famine, not wait for a famine declaration to act. To the people who are suffering from lack of food and malnutrition, whether it’s called a ‘famine’ or a ‘food crisis’ makes little difference; people are literally starving to death, and help is needed as much today as it was yesterday. The UN recently announced there are 20 million people at risk of famine in South Sudan, Northeast Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia. Now is the time to respond to the escalating needs in these countries to prevent millions from starving to death.