Aid agencies admit deadly famine delay

Aid agencies are now acknowledging their slow response to the Horn of Africa famine cost tens of thousands of lives.

While an accurate death toll may never be known, the United Nations estimates tens of thousands have already died in the region and the number continues to grow.

A joint report by Save the Children and Oxfam says early signs of the looming food crisis were clear months before the emergency reached its peak and international agencies started responding.

The report is highly critical of various organisations for not getting their act together in time and says the inaction meant many people died unnecessarily.

Rebecca Barber, the humanitarian policy advisor with Save the Children, says part of the problem is that the earlier the warnings come, the more uncertain the situation is.

"It wasn't until the UN declared a famine in July 2011 that the international community's response really scaled up," she told AM.

"The problem is getting that information up from the field level and influencing decision makers to act.

"And part of it is a fear of getting it wrong. Part of it is the lack of certainty. Part of it is the reluctance to invest significant amounts of money when we may not yet have an absolute confirmation that it will be a crisis.

"But the problem is we need the response before it becomes a crisis."

Ongoing crisis

Ms Barber says all aid agencies need to shoulder a portion of the blame for the response.

"Partly for not yelling loudly enough," she said.

"But we acknowledge in the report that both Save the Children and Oxfam also took some time to declare it an institutional priority and acknowledge the scale of the crisis."

While the focus has shifted to the delayed response, the famine is still ongoing in areas and people are still dying.

"There's still more than 13 million people affected across Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia," Ms Barber said.

"It's forecast that the situation won't get particularly better until the next harvest in August 2012.

"And the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance in Somalia alone is likely to be what it is now, which is 4 million people, for at least the next nine months."

Source: ABC Online