At least 23 million people in Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and Uganda do not have enough to eat after the worst droughts in a decade. Caritas is responding to the crisis with nutrition programmes, long-term farming support, development initiatives that strengthen community response to drought, and peace building.
In Ethiopia the number of people in need of food aid has increased from 5.3 million in May to 6.2 million in October. That figure is on top of the 7.6 million people receiving support through the Ethiopia’s Safety Net welfare program, which provides food and livelihoods to the country’s poorest regions. Poor weather and conflict have combined to create wide spread hunger in Sudan and Somalia, with half the population of the latter in need of food aid. Kenya’s maize production is forecast to be 30 per cent down on last year, leaving almost 4 million Kenyans either highly or extremely food insecure. “Rains have been erratic, leading to droughts,” said Caritas Kenya Chief Executive Janet Mang’era. “This has left people without food and water has to be trucked in. Malnutrition remains a problem. We hope that the next harvest will be better, but need relief aid until then.” Caritas action Caritas Internationalis Emergency Director Alistair Dutton said, “People will be desperately short of food and water to get through to the next harvest, but providing that alone is not the solution to ending the cycle of drought and hunger. Caritas is helping poor communities make a living in increasingly hostile climates.” Caritas advocacy Seven out of every ten disasters is now climate-related. Support our work on climate change. The way the international community responds to hunger is flawed. Find out more about the reforms that are necessary if we want to reduce hunger. |
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