Somalia famine highlights need for long-term food security initiatives

Aug 16 2011

Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, and Former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (D-Tenn.) write in a USA Today opinion piece about their visit last week to the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya, stating, "Amid the devastation, we saw the impact of [U.S. and international] aid. We saw inexpensive oral rehydration packs bring listless babies back to life. We saw children getting vitamins and vaccines that will stop the spread of deadly diseases throughout the camps."

"Still, the scope of this crisis threatens to overwhelm the international response," they write, adding this is why "we must also confront the broader challenge of food insecurity that leaves so many people vulnerable to droughts like this one," in order "to help create conditions where such aid is no longer needed" and "help prevent the kind of suffering we see in Somalia today" (8/11).