WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Ethiopia continues to face#one of the worst droughts in recent history, and millions of its people are# suffering from acute hunger.

Back in December, the United States resumed# aid shipments after previously suspending## them due to concerns about theft,# but starvation is still prevalent.

Special correspondent Jack Hewson reports# from the Tigray region in Northern Ethiopia.

JACK HEWSON: These might be the last days of# Gebremichael life.

After months of little or## no food, he's starving, his stomach swollen# from water retention that results from protein## deficiency, skin stretched taught across# his upper body, his heartbeat visible.

GEBREMICHAEL TESFEY, Farmer (through# translator): I have a hard time## breathing.

It gets worse each day.# I'm al..

I can't go to the toilet because# everything I eat, I vomit out.

JACK HEWSON: Gebremichael# is so acutely malnourished## that his body is rejecting food.

His wife, Gember,## grinds a few grains outside their home in the# Yechila district of Northern Tigray province.

This is all they have.

After the rains failed to# fall in August, the crops failed too.

As climate## change bites, Ethiopia's drought is the worst many# here have ever experienced.

People here are just## trying to forage the last grains and berries# that they can get from this arid landscape.

Food aid is beginning to arrive, but,# for some, it may be too late.

Millions## face acute food insecurity in the region.# Approximately 400 have reportedly died of## starvation in Tigray and Amhara.

Gebremichael is# dangerously close to becoming the next fatality.

GEBREMICHAEL TESFEY (through# translator): There's nothing## we can do about the .. JACK HEWSON: The legacy of conflict,# visible across the region, is also## making the situation worse.

The civil war# that ended in November 2022 displaced 2.5## million.

These people here in Yechila have fled# ethnic persecution in contested Western Tigray.

Among them was Dessalegn# Abadi Tafere and his family.

DESSALEGN ABADI TAFERE, Ethiopia (through# translator): I have so many problems.

I## lost my house,.

I lost everything.

I have to# beg.

I ask people to help me for the sake of## my babies.

I ask people to support me# until we get through this hard time.

I used to go to local people before.# But now I can't even go to them,## because they are also suffering themselves.

JACK HEWSON: Despite this widespread# suffering, in January, Ethiopian Prime## Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the U.N.# Food and Agriculture Organization's highest## award for his contribution to rural and economic# development, this for a leader accused of using## starvation as a weapon of war as government# forces laid siege to Tigray two years prior.

ABIY AHMED, Ethiopian Prime Minister (through# translator): I am deeply honored and grateful## for the U.N. Food and Agriculture# Organization for recognizing Ethiopia's## diligent efforts over the past five years# in addressing food and nutrition security.

I would like to emphasize my government's# commitment to meeting zero hunger goals.

JACK HEWSON: Zero hunger?

That's the rhetoric.# But, in Tigray, the reality looks very different.## Baby Leul was brought to Ayder Hospital in# Mekelle by his mother, Alem Degefu Birhan,## after she was unable to produce breast# milk and he became dangerously underweight.

ALEM DEGEFU BIRHAN, Mother (through# translator): When I was pregnant,## there were food shortages.

When# I got cl..

I had so many problems.

My breasts# ran out of milk because I had no food.

JACK HEWSON: Further down the ward are other# children that have developed hydrocephalus,## the swelling of the brain with spinal fluid,## a condition that can be caused by# malnutrition in pregnant mothers.

If nothing is done, Tigray could slide into# famine.

But using what's termed the F-word is## sensitive for the government and aid agencies# alike.

The memory of 1984 haunts Ethiopia,## when pictures of the devastating famine shocked# the world.

Forty years later, the death rates and## numbers suffering severe acute malnutrition do not# now meet the U.N.'s technical famine definition.

But for Reda Getachew, interim Tigrayan# president, he's not interested in semantics.

GETACHEW REDA, Interim President, Tigray Region:# I see people dying because there is no food on## their plate.

No amount of technical obfuscation# is going to convince me that this is not hunger.

Whether the F-word should be avoided at this# point is overly academic, as far as I'm concerned.

JACK HEWSON: Tigray's hunger was exacerbated# by the World Food Program and USAID suspending## food deliveries last March.

The grain# was being systematically stolen and## sold on the black market, reportedly by# both the federal and Tigrayan military.

After changes to prevent theft,# WFP resumed shipments in August,## and USAID in December, but, according# to Mr. Getachew, it's not enough.

GETACHEW REDA: The response is not adequate# at all.

The resumption of food aid only covers## 20 percent of what used to be the humanitarian# need in Tigray.

I know the federal government## for quite some time has been dragging its feet# to come to terms with the reality on the ground.

JACK HEWSON: And the reality remains bleak.

Responding to "PBS NewsHour" in a written# statement, the Ethiopian government said## it was distributing $250 million in food# aid, and claimed that national wheat yields## had increased dramatically since 2021.

But# there's little sign of this supposedly bumper## crop in rural Tigray.

For millions facing# acute hunger, the words will ring hollow.

For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jack# Hewson in Northern Ethiopia.