Global charity Oxfam has organised an Australia-wide fundraising event to help people in the Horn of Africa, which is in the middle of its worst famine in recent history.

The event has been called “Shout the Horn”, where certain restaurants have pledged to donate a percentage of the profits they make this Sunday.

Sarah Honan reports.

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Oxfam has organised the Shout the Horn event as it says the situation in the horn of Africa is being largley ignored.

Leigh Stewart, Oxfam spokesperson: “At any point in time there are emergencies which by their nature are slow in onset or aren’t as immediately dramatic and they don’t make the headlines, they’re silent emergencies.”

According to AUSAID more than 13 million people require urgent humanitarian aid.

In Somalia alone, 750,000 people are at risk of starvation and 1.3 million children are malnourished.

The lack of attention to the famine in the Horn could also be caused by ‘compassion fatigue’.

Bishop Geoff Smith, Anglican Diocese of Brisbane: “Part of it is to actually for the media to highlight human stories, the human suffering that’s going on and the difference we can actually make.”

Now Oxfam hopes to change that.

On Sunday nominated restaurants across the country will collect donations and also donate their own profits to the fund.

Mie Mie Wing Kee, Manager Makanan Indonesia: “The dinner one is almost fully booked but I want to have 60 people.”

‘Shout the Horn’ will take advantage of the Federal Government’s dollar for dollar initiative.

The government has promised to match all donations made to 18 non-government fundraisers.

Sarah Honan, QUT News.