Lessons Learned from the Somalia Famine and the Greater Horn of Africa Crisis 2011-2012

On July 20, 2011, the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU) declared a famine in several areas of the South Central part of the country. The crisis affected the entire Greater Horn of Africa, but only Somalia was declared to have reached famine levels. The whole region was affected with differing degrees of mortality and morbidity. But, the main impact in terms of mortality was limited to the famine in Somalia, which killed some 260,000 people (Checchi and Robinson 2013).

This desk review is one output from a study entitled, 'Lessons Learned from the 2011–2012 Horn Of Africa Crisis'. The purpose of the desk review is to summarise as succinctly as possible the available literature that addresses the areas outlined above, which summarize the key research questions of the study. In addition, an Annotated Bibliography summarises individual papers, reports, assessments, and evaluations reviewed. Together, they form the background to the field research being conducted by the research team.