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Our Teams Respond to Crisis in East Africa
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Hundreds of thousands of children are facing life-threatening malnutrition across East Africa. Our teams are on the ground in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti, treating severely malnourished children and providing urgent food and water to thousands of families.
Across East Africa thousands of children face life-threatening malnutrition. Children like Fadumo who is living in a refugee camp. When Fadumo arrived to our feeding centre, he was severely malnourished. Fortunately he is now receiving the life-saving treatment he so desperately needs.
Severe drought has pushed 10 million people across East Africa into a devastating food crisis. Children in particular are extremely vulnerable to malnutrition, especially those under the age of five.
In the midst of conflicts and drought, hundreds of thousands of people are fleeing their homes in order to survive. Families are walking for days and even weeks under the intense sun in search of food and water.
When families finally arrive at the refugee camps, they are exhausted, dehydrated and malnourished. According to Jens Oppermann, our Country Director in Somalia, “families arrive in the worst state of physical weakness and despair that we have ever seen.”
Every day, thousands of children at the brink of death arrive at Action Against Hunger’s Therapeutic Feeding Centres. Many are severely malnourished and do not have the strength to stand, eat or even smile anymore.
Our nutrition experts are in a race against time to save the lives of the children who arrive at the feeding centres. Critically malnourished children receive treatment with therapeutic food and 24-hour care. Without treatment, these children would most likely die.
This is Hajir Noor, our Programme Coordinator in Somalia, with some of the children his team has helped. You can listen to his report on the situation by clicking on the link below
Our teams have been present in the Horn of Africa for many years. As a result, we were able to anticipate the malnutrition crisis and scale up our programmes in response. But the scale of the crisis is immense.
In Wajid, Somalia, we are the only aid agency present, reaching 80,000 people. Our teams are providing life-saving treatment to malnourished children and provide their families with crucial access to food and water.
“I have witnessed humanitarian emergencies for decades but this is without a doubt the worst crisis I have ever seen. Seeing the impact it has, especially on the most vulnerable - children, mothers, the elderly - the scale of this disaster is not only beyond imagination but also heartbreaking. We are admitting children into our emergency treatment centres throughout Somalia, who arrive too weak to stand, speak or even smile. They walk and are carried by their completely exhausted mothers through the most insecure and hostile environment for days and weeks, searching for life-saving assistance, such as provided by Action Against Hunger.
"Many are so malnourished that they are on the brink of death. We are the only aid agency present here in Wajid and we are focusing all our efforts on treating desperately malnourished children who, without our centres, would not be able to survive. The scale of the situation is immense and we are racing against time. Without additional funding for even more emergency centres, thousands of children are in danger of dying of hunger and thirst.”
Jens Oppermann, Country Director, Somalia.
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RELATED NEWS
1 July 2011 - One in Three Children’s Lives at Risk from Malnutrition in Somalia
5th July 2011 - Our Programme Coordinator, Hadjir Noor, reports from Somalia. View the video
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