UNICEF warns Horn of Africa 'crisis will get worse'; China contributes $16M in aid funds to WFP

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake told reporters on Friday that "[m]ore than 300,000 children in the Horn of Africa are severely malnourished 'and in imminent risk of dying' because of drought and famine," the Associated Press/Washington Post reports.

"In Somalia alone, he said, 1.4 million children are affected, an estimated 390,000 are suffering from malnutrition, and nearly 140,000 in the south-central region are facing imminent death from 'severe acute malnutrition,'" the news agency writes. Lake "predicted 'the crisis will get worse,'" according to the AP/Washington Post.

"Donors have contributed over $1 billion to help famine victims, but U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed again Friday World Humanitarian Day for $1 billion more," the news agency writes (8/19).

"China has donated $16 million to the World Food Programme (WFP) to support its famine-relief operations in Somalia, said a WFP press release on Sunday," Xinhua reports. The donation is China's largest single contribution to WFP and brings the country's total donation to WFP to more than $20 million this year, according to the release, the news agency reports (8/21).