East Africa Food Crisis

Overview of the crisis 

Millions of people continue to suffer from the consequences of the devastating food crisis in East Africa. In order to prevent the situation from deteriorating again, it is crucial that the underlying causes of the continuing crisis are addressed and we continue to build the resilience of communities by implementing programmes that improve the food security of the population. 

Our response

As a result of our nearly 20 years in the area, we were in a position to scale up our nutrition programmes in order to treat more children suffering from life-threatening malnutrition across East Africa.

Across Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Djibouti, we’re helping thousands of children in the hardest-hit regions—from the 3,000 malnourished children we’re treating in Somalia, to our efforts in Garbatulla, Kenya, where one in five children is now malnourished. We’re racing to reduce the impact of water shortages by constructing wells, drilling boreholes and installing storage devices to capture future rainfall, in addition to promoting hygiene to prevent the spread of diarrhoea, cholera and other water-bourne diseases.

Find out more about the impact of our work by reading our latest update from the field.

Find out more about:

What we're doing in Somalia

What we're doing in Ethiopia

What we're doing in Kenya

What we're doing in Djibouti

We tell the story of children and families suffering through the 2011 food crisis throughout the Horn of Africa.

Baby Abdullahi's Story

As baby Abdullahi sits with her mother, eyes shining, smiling and playing happily, it is hard to believe that just a few weeks ago the little seven-month-year-old girl was suffering from severe acute malnutrition and was at dangerous risk of dying.  Read more...

Vegetable Gardening in 'Eating Rocks'

Halima Bonaya lives with her six children in the town of Kwlawake, which is Swahili for ‘eating rocks’. The farming community lies in the heart of Garbatulla, which is one of the worst affected areas of the devastating drought that is raging across Kenya.  Read more...

A community's Struggle for Survival

It is hard to believe that green pastures ever existed in Garbatulla. Now there is only a sandy soil strewn with animal carcasses burned by the sun. Nothing grows here now and in the memory of all the villagers, there has not been a drought like this for 60 years. Read more...

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