ChildFund International Emergency Updates
For children living in extreme poverty, natural disasters and civil unrest multiply their vulnerability and threaten their survival. When emergency situations do arise, ChildFund International makes it easy for you to help. Please choose to donate to our ChildAlert Emergency Fund and help us be prepared for the next emergency. Enter your donation amount in the box at the bottom of the page. |
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Updated 4/25/2012
Food Crisis in The Gambia
The drought in western Africa has caused massive food shortages in many countries. The Gambia, where ChildFund serves more than 20,000 children in the large West Coast region, is one of them. In a country where most people depend on seasonal agriculture and subsistence farming for their survival, widespread crop failure means that most of the rural population is experiencing hunger. Meanwhile, an influx of refugees who are fleeing armed conflict in southern Senegal has put further pressure on severely limited resources.
This is the third time the region has faced such a food crisis in less than a decade.
Families are already consuming seeds that had been stored for next season’s planting. In these desperate situations, the young men and women who typically perform most of the labor on the farms migrate to urban areas in search of work, leaving their families short of help for farming when the rain returns. To compensate, families have begun pulling their younger children out of school to work and supplement the family income. The children are often tasked with dangerous jobs like picking cashews in the bush, where they are at risk of exploitation and kidnapping.
ChildFund is keeping a close eye on the drought situation in The Gambia, with particular attention to malnutrition, child protection and the psychosocial needs of children caught up in the food crisis, especially of the most vulnerable — children under 5.
Updated 10/26/2011
Food Situation Remains Grave in Horn of Africa
In eastern Africa, the worst drought since the 1950s has now enveloped more than 13 million people. Many live in three countries where ChildFund works: Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda. Crops have failed, food prices have soared and long-term food shortages are endangering the lives of children, who are suffering acute malnutrition.
Working with local and governmental partners in all three countries, ChildFund is responding by providing supplemental food and water as well as health care and hygiene education to help reduce risk of disease. Communities in Kenya and Ethiopia are stabilizing but remain at high risk of food shortages through October 2012. Uganda is gearing up disaster risk reduction efforts to prepare for food shortages, as many gardens, crops and livestock have been lost due to dry weather followed by flooding.
Given the widespread nature of this crisis, the greatest challenge of all is funding response efforts. Make a difference now and help ChildFund help the children of the Horn of Africa.
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