Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the potential long-term impact of ongoing hunger crises in East Africa on levels of malnutrition in that region.

Across East Africa over 51 million people face severe food insecurity, of which 700,000 are facing famine-like conditions in South Sudan, Somalia and Ethiopia. The ongoing drought in the region and dire water shortages are driving alarming levels of malnutrition; about 4.9 million children and 986,100 pregnant and lactating women are acutely malnourished in drought affected areas in the Horn of Africa, including about 1.4 million children who are severely acutely malnourished. There are concrete warnings that the October - December rains might fail. If so, serious humanitarian needs will persist into 2023.

The UK is a major donor to the East Africa region and UK-funded activities are making a difference and saving lives. In Financial Year 2022/23, the UK intends to provide £156 million in humanitarian aid towards crises in East Africa. Of this amount, nearly 50 percent has been allocated as of mid-September.