East Africa Food Crisis

More than 20 million people in East Africa are facing famine. Families in South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia are currently being pushed to the brink of starvation– leaving them with no place to turn. Drought and violent conflict have contributed to the severe food shortages and have left millions living in desperate conditions. Hunger has caused many families to flee from rural areas where the drought is most severe and malnutrition levels are on the rise.

International Relief Teams is working with partner organization, Concern Worldwide, to provide emergency assistance to displaced families who are in desperate need. In Somalia alone, over six and one-half million people, more than half the country’s population, are in need of urgent food assistance. It is estimated that 6.7 million people, half of the country, are in need of immediate food assistance. Major outbreaks of cholera and diarrhea are spreading, and the number of acutely malnourished children is rising.

We are currently supporting displaced families with emergency funds so that they can purchase the food they desperately need, including water and other basic necessities needed for survival. We have supported approximately 1,400 people since July 2017.

Abdullahi* with his son, Abhsir* (4), at a nutrition center run by IRT partner organization Concern Worldwide in Mogadishu, Somalia. Credit: Concern Worldwide
Bilan in Somalia’s Gabiley has received an emergency cash transfer. Credit: Concern Worldwide

IRT has 16 years of experience assisting victims of disaster and conflict in Africa, from treating more than 17,000 survivors of the Rwandan genocide with medical care in 1994, to sending more than 13 million in medicines and supplies to victims of the genocide in Darfur from 2004 to 2008, to supplying protective equipment for the recent Ebola outbreak in Liberia and Sierra Leone. We have delivered more than 30 million in emergency medicines, supplies, survival kits, and medical aid across the African continent including Mozambique, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Congo, Ethiopia, Darfur, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Libya, Somalia, Kenya, and Ethiopia.

* Names have been changed for security reasons 

Somalia
map:
Population below poverty line:
73%
Total Expenditure on health per capita:
Under five mortality rate:
Physicians Density:
.03 physicians/1,000 people
Life Expectancy:
52.4 years
School Life Expectancy:
Literacy Rate:
GDP per capita:
$551.86
Children Under the age of 5 years underweight:
Unemployment rate:
Population:
% without health insurance:
% of persons living in poverty:
% of high school graduates:
Median household income:

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