The Federal Government's AUSAID has included Anglican Aid in the list of organisations for which it will offer dollar-for-dollar help.

AUSAID announced last week the Australian Government’s Dollar for Dollar initiative, which will match each dollar the public donates to appeals run by AusAID-accredited non-government organisations working to alleviate the food crisis in the Horn of Africa.

The aid matching runs from 5 October until 30 November 2011. 

AUSAID said the need for assistance remains acute, with more than 13 million people requiring urgent humanitarian aid. In Somalia alone 750,000 people are at risk of starvation and 1.3 million children are acutely malnourished.

The agency says unprecedented numbers of people are fleeing their homes for neighbouring countries, and the situation is being made worse by life-threatening cholera and measles outbreaks in the region.

The Archbiship of Sydney's Anglican Aid (Overseas Relief and Aid fund) has now been named on the list of 18 organisations eligible for the government's dollar-for-dollar support.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said "We cannot wait for the situation to worsen before responding. Already the Australian Government is making a difference as the third-largest donor to the crisis, but now we will double every dollar raised by agencies already working in the Horn of Africa, making the public’s contributions go even further."

Already Sydney Anglican churches have raised $300 thousand dollars for the Horn of Africa famine appeal, which has a target of half a million dollars.

Anglican Aid has been working with the Anglican Church in Kenya, which is distributing aid in drought-hit areas, where the situation has been made more urgent by large numbers of refugees.