The appeal from the World Food Programme (WFP) came as the Rome-based UN agency is scaling up the delivery in the region of highly fortified, supplementary food products especially targeting children below the age of three.

Currently 6 million people are in need of food aid in the Horn of Africa. The number could rise to 10 million in the coming months, the WFP said.

"As this devastating drought deepens, time is of the essence and WFP is appealing for urgent funding to cover a 40 per cent shortfall in our 477-million-dollar budget amounting to 189.35 million for operations in the Horn of Africa, including vital food for growing numbers of refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia," WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran said in a statement.

Sheeran noted how shifts in weather patterns that afflict the region mean that drought is becoming more frequent.

"Communities that used to have the relative luxury of several years of regular rainfall to recover from the occasional year of drought are now learning to live in an almost constant state of food insecurity due to a lack of water," Sheeran said.Author: Peter Mayer