East Africa food crisis emergency appeal
- By Jack Preston -
- Feb 01, 2012
Africa is experiencing its worst food crisis since the Somalia famine of 1991, with over 13 million people facing starvation.
The UN estimates that in southern Somalia, where the crisis is particularly acute, one in three children is malnourished, with one in five being severely malnourished.
A by-product of the crisis has been an escalation in the number of refugees entering the neighbouring countries of Ethiopia and Kenya, as people try to escape the crisis. The north-east Kenyan refugee camp of Dadaab is now the world’s largest, holding a staggering 440,000 refugees.
In response to this the British Red Cross’ East Africa food crisis appeal, launched in July 2011, has raised £3 million to date.
As well as wishing to alleviate the immediate impact of the crisis the British Red Cross is also working hard to avoid similar disasters happening in the future. With droughts occurring on a regular basis in the region spread of disease is commonplace as communities are forced to drink untreated water.
Through working with communities on alternative livelihood approaches and integrated food security projects, the building of long-term resilience to dangers such as starvation can hopefully be achieved.
If you wish to donate money to help the relief efforts then visit Virgin Money Giving’s British Red Cross page.
By Jack Preston. Senior Content Executive. Tweets at @JackPressedOn
