Canadians can now text in donations to support emergency relief work in the famine-ravaged Horn of Africa.

The Red Cross has introduced the new option as a "quick and easy" way to help an estimated 11.3 million people who need aid across drought-hit regions in East Africa.

Ottawa has said it will match every dollar Canadians give to a registered charity working in East Africa.

That program is retroactive to July 6 and will run until Sept. 16, after which the government will decide how to allocate the funds.

To date, Canada has contributed over $70 million this year to humanitarian aid in East Africa.

To donate to the Red Cross, Canadians can text the word "AFRICA" to 30333 to make a one-time donation of $5.

The Canadian arm of the international charity has committed $1 million to support relief efforts in Kenya and Somalia so far.

In the Greater Toronto Area volunteers at Global Medic are preparing their first shipment of aid, bound for Kenya.

"Five hundred thousand kids will die if we don't help," said Rahul Singh, the founder of Global Medic.

Singh hopes they'll be able to send shipments in the coming days to Somalia.

Hodan Ali, a nurse from Hamilton, Ont., felt she had to go help other Somalis. She'll leave for the region as part of Islamic Relief Canada.

"When I tuck my kids in at night, it kills me to know that a mother might have lost her last child, or might have just buried two of her kids that day. Just thinking about that makes me that much more determined to go," she said.

The World Health Organization has warned that famine conditions in Somalia are likely to spread to more areas of the war-torn country as militant groups refuse to allow aid agencies to operate in some of the hardest-hit parts.

Meanwhile, thousands of refugees continue to stream into camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, some walking for days or weeks to reach assistance.

With files from CBC Toronto