A year ago, the UN appealed for $500 million to keep East Africa fed during a famine the experts knew was coming. The response was pitiful.  When famine was officially declared in parts of Somalia on July 20, the UN appeal had risen to $1.6 billion. “There has been a catastrophic breakdown of the world’s collective responsibility,” said one official.

Once again it is taking horrifying images of dying children and grieving mothers to awaken the world to tragedy. Famine refers to situations in which there is no access to food, where “acute malnutrition” affects at least 30 percent of children and where daily death rates from starvation exceed two people per 10,000. In addition to the deaths, some 135,000 Somalis have fled their foodless country.

To its credit, the Canadian government is responding aggressively despite concerns that pro al-Qaeda militants in the most desperate regions of Somalia could disrupt relief efforts. In addition to $22.3 million committed months ago, Canada is sending East Africa another $50 million. The government will also match dollar-for-dollar contributions that individual Canadians make to recognized charitable organizations. Per capita, Canada has become the world’s most generous donor to the international relief effort.

Somalia is a corrupt, dangerous, dysfunctional nation. Large areas are controlled by Islamist extremists. Politically, Somalia’s most grief-stricken regions are pariah territory. But thousands of innocent people are starving. That single, tragic fact must become the world’s focus and trump all other concerns.

This isn’t a political problem; it’s a humanitarian crisis. World leaders must recognize that and provide the help East Africa so urgently requires.

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