The worst drought in 60 years is causing a severe food crisis affecting 12 million people, more than half of which are children, in the Horn of Africa.
Food prices are sky-high leaving parents unable to feed their children. Wells have gone dry. Herds are dying from lack of grazing and water. Crops are non-existent from lack of rain. There is very little hope that this food and water crisis will let up until 2012.
More than a quarter of the children in the hardest-hit parts of Kenya are severely malnourished. ADRA is providing food rations to households, with a special ration reserved for pregnant and lactating mothers, and an additional ration for malnourished children. ADRA is drilling four boreholes in various communities and making water readily available through water trucking.
In Uganda, hundreds of thousands of people are reported to be in danger of severe starvation and living with a dangerously low supply of water. ADRA is addressing the serious deficiency of nutritional intake by providing food, water and emergency non-food items to 55,000 beneficiaries in northeastern region of Karamoja.
Please help us save lives now.
In Somalia, where ongoing civil war has displaced entire villages, ADRA is providing high-risk areas with clean drinking water through an emergency water trucking response. We are repairing boreholes and rehabilitating water points in strategic locations, maximizing the number of individuals who can benefit from its repair. To protect against the spread of diseases amongst internally displaced persons camps (IDPs), ADRA is constructing latrines. A provision of non-food items such as plastic sheets for shelter, sleeping mats, blankets, mosquito nets, water containers, utensils and chlorine tablets are being distributed in the camps.
The Western Somali region in Ethiopia has experienced very low rainfall, a devastating setback to the pastoral communities who rely entirely on their livestock for their livelihood. Along with an emergency water trucking response and distribution of essential non-food items, ADRA will be providing livestock feed and veterinary assistance to protect the assets of the farming communities. Through this intervention, ADRA is helping secure the livelihoods of thousands who are dependent upon their highly valuable livestock.
Please make a donation now to ADRA’s Emergency Response Fund, please contact ADRA at 0800 4 999 111 or give online at www.adra.org.nz
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