A drought plaguing east Africa is wiping out livestock and draining food supplies, starving children who are too weak to survive.

"I had five children who died," one Kenyan man told CTV News. "Five children. All of them are casualities of malnutrition."

More than 40 children have died from starvation since December, mostly in northern Kenya, according to The Associated Press.

Cattle are also succumbing to the drought. Livestock are the lifeblood of many communities in the region, but the UN estimates that as many as 80 per cent of some herds could die from lack of food and water.

The drought is so severe that even some camels are barely holding on to life.

The UN is asking for about $300 million in international aid. Canada has so far donated $1.5 million.

"The world will not respond and the situation is serious," said another Kenyan man.

"Most of the people consider themselves as people who are forsaken at the worst time of their lives."

There is a food surplus in Kenya's capital Nairobi, but a corrupt government that has mismanaged the country's money has left roads leading out of the city unusable to transport aid, according to Oliver.

A senior U.S. diplomat told reporters that Kenya's reputation as a tourist destination is also hurting aid efforts.

"The region is facing a severe crisis," said Tony Hall, the Rome-based US ambassador to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. "I don't think many people in the world really know this.

"When people outside, in Europe or the U.S., think of Kenya, they think of it in terms of safaris, they are not thinking of hungry people, they're not thinking of dry areas or development assistance."

Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki has declared the drought a national disaster.

With a report by CTV's Murray Oliver in Kampala