Conflict and drought have greatly reduced food supplies in South Sudan, displacing nearly 2.3 million refugees. These South Sudanese refugees wait to get their children vaccinated at the Koro Health Center in Uganda.

Famines are not natural disasters. They are the consequence of human action and inaction.

Famines are the most severe form of hunger crisis. When a famine is declared, people have already been living on very little food, children are experiencing stunting and wasting and families have been selling all their possessions in order to feed themselves. By the time a famine is declared, it’s too late to save hundreds of thousands of lives.

While weather patterns and climate change can reduce crop yields, there is also often a man-made contribution to the crisis. People may have been forced from their homes and farms, or there may have been and burst of conflict or other societal crisis.