As Ethiopia remains caught in a deadly cycle of drought and famine, aid agencies warn that erratic rainfall and ever-rising food costs are compounding the problems carried over from last year’s drought to leave 6.2 million people in need of food assistance, on top of the 7.5 million already getting aid from the government. Close to 14 million Ethiopians — 20% of the country’s total population — now have difficulty finding enough to eat, including, according to UNICEF, 62,000 children under five in the worst-affected areas who received treatment for severe acute malnutrition during the first half of 2009. And that number is set to rise
