The situation in the Horn of Africa is continuing to worsen. According to The New Humanitarian, after “four droughts in a row, as many as 17 million people are going hungry in three countries in the Horn of Africa, with aid agencies warning that the hardest-hit areas are threatened by famine.”

Many fear that the war in the Ukraine is taking attention away from these crises. Dan Maxwell and colleagues have been working hard to encourage the humanitarian community to take needed action, based on lessons learned from past experiences.

• On May 16, 2022, Dan Maxwell and Peter Hailey briefed ambassadors and other decision makers in Ethiopia on the extent of the crisis there.
• On May 16, Dan Maxwell was part of a small group who briefed USAID Administrator Samantha Power on the impact of the Ukraine war on humanitarian crises around the world.
• On May 20, 2022 Dan Maxwell teamed up with Chris Porter (of the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)) to hold a “teach in” on famine for the non-humanitarian actors of FCDO. More than 100 people participated.
• On May 20, 2022, Dan Maxwell discussed famine risk with a group of ambassadors and agency heads in Geneva.
• On May 30, 2022, BBC’s Future Planet quoted Dan Maxwell in “How scientists predict famine before it hits.”