Whereas the worst famine in 20 years occurred in Somalia between October 2010 and April 2012, caused by severe drought, failed harvests, a spike in food prices, and pervasive insecurity, which impeded the delivery of food aid; Whereas the famine resulted in the deaths of at least 260,000 Somalis and Somali refugees in Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya, including at least 133,000 children under the age of five; Whereas early warning of drought and famine conditions was accurate and timely across the region, but funding for the humanitarian response came too late to mitigate the worst effects of the drought, including mass displacement into neighboring countries, starvation, and death; Whereas in 2011 alone, the threat of starvation contributed to the influx of over 110,000 Somali refugees into Ethiopia, 100,000 Somali refugees into Kenya, and thousands more into Djibouti; Whereas a shortage of rainfall over the course of the past two years has again exacerbated drought conditions, significantly increasing vulnerability and food insecurity across the Horn of Africa region, leaving more than 14,000,000 people facing severe food insecurity and in need of humanitarian assistance as of early 2017; Whereas in February 2017, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) and the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit for Somalia (FSNAU) warned of a significant deterioration in food security and an increased risk of famine in the Horn of Africa in the coming months if the April–June rains are as poor as expected; Whereas the effects of drought place the heaviest burden on women and girls, whose coping strategies put them at increased risk of violence and cause them to forego educational opportunities; Whereas in Ethiopia, drought conditions have developed in recent months in at least 15 zones of Oromia, Somali, and the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples regions, and 5,600,000 people are projected to require humanitarian assistance in the coming months