During a visit to Ethiopia’s capital on Tuesday, USAID Administrator Rajiv Shah announced new grant programs to help the nation address food insecurity, the Associated Press reports. Shah said the U.S. will provide $110 million to a food security program that will benefit 1.5 million people, $10 million for a nutrition program and $1.2 million for loans to farmers, the news agency notes (10/4).

According to VOA News, “[o]f the estimated 12.4 million people suffering from malnutrition in the region, the largest number are in Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous nation.” Shah will also stop in Kenya on Wednesday before wrapping up his East African visit, the news service notes (Heinlein, 10/4). In an interview with Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog before leaving, Shah said, “I’m going to Kenya and Ethiopia to visit with heads of state and senior leadership as well as to pull together the humanitarian and NGO communities to assess progress on the challenges that the drought has brought to the Horn of Africa.” According to the blog, the U.S. “has provided more than $640 million to date in response to the Horn of Africa crisis” (Rogin, 10/3).