The United States is providing emergency health, food, and nutritional assistance to families in the Horn of Africa as quickly as possible. We're also providing high-energy food supplements that can help revive desperately malnourished children.

But while our country will continue to be the leading provider of food in times of crisis, we must also help countries prevent these crises from happening in the first place. Recognizing this, President Obama created Feed the Future initiative to help families move from crisis to lasting solutions… so that next time a drought hits, they are better able to withstand the impact.

Years of underinvestment in agricultural development have left poor farming and herding families mired in poverty and vulnerable to droughts. Through President Obama's Feed the Future, we are partnering with countries to invest in their own agricultural production, boosting crop yields and livestock quality and increasing farmers' access to markets to improve livelihoods and address the root causes of hunger.

These investments will help countries lift 18 million people out of poverty—over 7 million of them children. To learn more about Feed the Future, click here.