Rising food prices, drought, lack of sustainable infrastructure and conflict are contributing to increased hunger in the Horn of Africa and in some regions increasing the likelihood of acute malnutrition and famine.
In Kenya's north, for example, it has been two months since food aid reached the Turkana tribe pastoralists. The effects of three failed rain seasons and no aid is evident everywhere.
The situation is further exacerbated by the sale of family assets like livestock to purchase food, and even the mass movement of families and villages in search of sustenance.
A shortage of aid caused by the global financial crisis is also hampering the activities of international agencies.
The world food program says the situation in Kenya has become dire; more than eight million Kenyans are in need of aid, but assistance is only reaching 2.4 million of them.