Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday announced $17 million in new US aid to famine-hit East Africa, to tackle what she called the world's "most severe humanitarian emergency."

In a speech about the food crisis and efforts to prevent future ones, Clinton said total US humanitarian assistance to the drought-stricken region this year now amounts to $580 million, including $105 million announced Monday.

The chief US diplomat said $12 million of the $17 million in new aid would go to Somalia, the worst hit in a drought that has also affected parts of Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia and Djibouti.

Some 12 million people are in danger of starvation, UN officials say.

"What is happening in the Horn of Africa is the most severe humanitarian emergency in the world today and the worst that East Africa has seen in several decades," Clinton told the International Food Policy Institute.

She said much has been done already to fight the famine but a "great deal more" needs to be done and it needs to be done "fast."

The United Nations raised its Horn of Africa humanitarian appeal on July 29 to $2.48 billion, but UN aid chief Valerie Amos told reporters here Wednesday that at least $1.3 billion still needs to be raised to meet the appeal.

US officials on Tuesday called on other countries to sharply increase aid to east Africa, warning that the needs of the starving outstrip the pace of assistance.

US officials made the appeal after returning from a visit to Kenya with Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, which included a tour of refugee camps and meetings with top government figures.

Thousands of Somalis fleeing the famine have poured into Kenya and Ethiopia, compounding the problems faced by those two nations.

Clinton said the United States is reaching reaching more than 4.6 million people with the nearly $600 million in aid.

"It helps pay for food distribution; for therapeutic feeding for those who are severely malnourished; for clean water, health care, sanitation, protection and other services for those in need," she said.

Clinton also appealed to individual donors to contribute funds, saying they can have a "tremendous impact" as they have had in tackling the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

She urged individuals to visit the homepage of the US Agency for International Development website, USAID.gov, which has links to relief groups.

She also urged them to send 10 dollars to the World Food Program by texting "A-I-D" to the telephone number 27722.

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