Though there are multiple definitions of the term (ranging along the entire eastern coast of the continent), East Africa is widely seen to be comprised of the Republics of Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania. Sometimes this definition is extended to include Somalia, Sudan, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia and Sudan.
According to the East African Community, the intergovernmental organization linking the key states in the region, East Africa covers 1.82 million sq. km. In 2008, it had a population of 126.2 million and a GDP of 60 billion USD.
One of the major issues currently facing East Africa is hunger. According to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, 11 million East Africans are desperately in need of food. A recent press release from Oxfam, an England-based international aid organization, warned that "spiraling food prices [will tip] millions in East Africa towards catastrophe."
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, epidemics in East Africa have been comparatively smaller than those experienced in the far south of the continent (and have either hit a plateau or receded). Worryingly, there are indicators that sexual risk-taking is on the rise and could cause a resurgence of new infections.
East Africa just had its first fiber-optic communications cable installed under the seabed along its eastern seaboard. Seacom, the name of the 10,000-plus-mile-long cable, went active on July 24th of 2009. Seacom took two years to lay, as it was slightly delayed by pirate activity off the Somalian coast, but will provide low-cost connection to the web for millions of East Africans.
