Conflict and drought have ravaged four countries across North Africa and the Middle East, leaving more than 20 million people in desperate need of food.
On Saturday, Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire said 110 people died of malnourishment or disease in a single region over a two-day span. About half the country is at risk of famine.
The U.N. says nearly 5 million people do not have enough food, and it issued a formal famine declaration for Unity State in the north-central part of the country.
The U.N. is warning that Somalia could soon be facing a famine without urgent international action, raising concerns of a repeat of 2011's famine which killed more than a quarter of a million people.
Fighting extreme poverty and failing crops caused by a three-year drought, United Nations food agencies are struggling to keep the region's population from succumbing to starvation.
The system was considered a triumph by the Soviets, but was built by the same ruthless means that helped cause a famine, which killed millions in the 1930s.