Field Exchange - Issue 42

This issue of Field Exchange gives extended coverage to a briefing paper just released by Oxfam and SC UK on the 2011 response to the Horn of Africa crisis. This paper argues that the response was late and led to the unnecessary deaths of between 50,000 to 100,000 people, at least half of whom were children under 5 years. According to the authors, there was sufficient early warning to trigger a response as early as November 2010 but the main response only unravelled in July 2011, following declaration of famine and concerted media coverage.