Since November 2020, millions of civilians in Ethiopia’s northern region of Tigray have faced harrowing violence, the loss of their homes and livelihoods, and now, increasingly, face extreme food insecurity leading to widespread famine conditions.

On June 4, the UN’s Integrated Phase Classification (IPC) system that determines food security identified 354,000 people experiencing starvation, or famine in Tigray. USAID increased that to as many as 900,000 people on June 26, 2021. The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWSNET), created by USAID in 1985 amidst the last great famine in Ethiopia, reported that 5.5 million of the region’s 6.2 million people were critically food insecure. That number includes people who are now experiencing famine.