UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told reporters on Friday that “[m]ore than 300,000 children in the Horn of Africa are severely malnourished ‘and in imminent risk of dying’ because of drought and famine,” the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

“In Somalia alone, he said, 1.4 million children are affected, an estimated 390,000 are suffering from malnutrition, and nearly 140,000 in the south-central region are facing imminent death from ‘severe acute malnutrition,'” the news agency writes. Lake “predicted ‘the crisis will get worse,'” according to the AP/Washington Post.

“Donors have contributed over $1 billion to help famine victims, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed again Friday World Humanitarian Day for $1 billion more,” the news agency writes (8/19).

“China has donated $16 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its famine-relief operations in Somalia, said a WFP press release on Sunday,” Xinhua reports. The donation is China’s largest single contribution to WFP and brings the country’s total donation to WFP to more than $20 million this year, according to the release, the news agency reports (8/21).

The KFF Daily Global Health Policy Report summarized news and information on global health policy from hundreds of sources, from May 2009 through December 2020. All summaries are archived and available via search.

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