A young boy collects what little water he can from a dried up river due to severe drought in Dollow, Somalia. | © UNICEF/Sebastian Rich.

The United Nations’ World Food Program said that 22 million people in the Horn of Africa are at risk of starvation, due to years of insufficient rainfall across the region.

The World Food Programme says the failure of four consecutive rainy seasons has pushed populations in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia to the brink of famine.

The press statement released on Friday says more than a million people have left their homes in search of food and water in the three countries.

The WHO says the world must act now to prevent catastrophic hunger.

The number of people at risk of starvation in the drought-stricken region have increased by nine million in a single year, according to the UN agency.

“The world needs to act now to protect the most vulnerable communities from the threat of widespread famine in the Horn of Africa,” the WFP executive director, David Beasley, said on Friday.

“There is still no end in sight to this drought crisis, so we must get the resources needed to save lives and stop people plunging into catastrophic levels of hunger and starvation.”

Early this year, WFP warned that 13 million people across the three countries faced starvation and appealed for more funding to avert the disaster.

But humanitarian organizations say the response of donors was slow and did not meet the required amount, due to the war in Ukraine, which has caused a global food and fuel crisis.

WFP says that by September, at least 22 million people could face starvation.

“This number will continue to climb, and the severity of hunger will deepen if the next rainy season … fails and the most vulnerable people do not receive humanitarian relief,” WFP said in a statement.

“Needs will remain high into 2023 and famine is now a serious risk, particularly in Somalia”, where nearly half the population of 15 million is seriously hungry.

WFP said $418m was needed over the next six months to help the worst-off.

In South Sudan, the UN agency maintains that food insecurity has reached the most extreme levels since 2011, with 8.3 million people – 75 percent of the population facing severe food crisis.