United Nations, January 16 (teleSUR-RHC)-- The United Nations will begin to roll out its Humanitarian Response Plan to help people in drastic need of food, health care, water and sanitation. Over 2.8 million people have been drastically affected by drought in the Central American corridor of Honduras and Guatemala and are in drastic need of humanitarian aid, the United Nations reported Friday.

The UN said they will begin to roll out their Humanitarian Response Plan that will work with the governments of the two nations through its Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, or OCHA.

According to OCHA, people urgently “need food assistance, health care, water and sanitation, nutrition, recovery of livelihoods and capacity building to address these phenomena.”

This is the second year in a row that Central America has experienced major drought and crop losses. Last year's drought caused several governments in the region to declare a state of emergency for the catastrophic effects the weather left on their countries' food production abilities.

The United Nations took notice of the drought this year, saying insufficient and erratic rainfall has resulted in the loss of staple grain crops and the death of thousands of cattle in Honduras and Guatemala, putting the livelihoods of thousands of people at risk.