can provide six malnourished children with urgent nutrition in Somalia
can provide a family clean water for a month through water trucking in Somalia
can provide a family with emergency food for a month in Somalia
Enter Amount

East Africa: Over 20 million people are facing severe food shortages

The risk of famine is devastating the lives of entire communities across East Africa. A drought in the region, one of the worst in recent history, has eradicated crops and livelihoods, with SomaliaEthiopia, and Kenya being the hardest-hit.

Hunger levels are still rising. 

Over 20 million people will not know where their next meal is coming from this year, as they are confronted by severe shortages of food due to the drought. As a result, millions of children are expected to suffer from malnutrition.

Three failed rainy seasons have killed off the majority of livestock across the region, forcing many out of livelihoods already living without their basic needs being met.

A person is dying from hunger every 48 seconds in East Africa 

The prospect of starvation in the region has caused mass internal displacement, with families taking desperate measures to survive – leaving with only the clothes on their back in search of food and water. Tragically, they face more vulnerabilities as a result. Women and girls who have no choice but to walk for miles to retrieve water from functioning water points are at an increasing risk of exposure to violence and sexual abuse. Humanitarian access barriers across the region due to conflict also poses a threat to the survival of displaced people.

The recent Russia-Ukraine conflict has also provided an extreme strain on already dire circumstances, as prices for foodstuffs such as oil and wheat have soared.

With the situation expected to deteriorate further, millions of people are in desperate need of your help right now. When crisis strikes, both immediate relief and long-term solutions are needed to help save lives.

Increasingly frequent climate disasters such as this, and an unfair system exacerbated by the residual impact of Covid-19, disproportionately affects the poorest communities in the world – trapping them in the cycle of poverty. They shouldn’t have to suffer when there is enough to sustain all life. You have the power to change this.

Islamic Relief is on the ground distributing essential food, water, and shelter items, but we need your help to support the tens of thousands of people who are trying to survive these terrifying circumstances.

Please donate to Islamic Relief’s East Africa Emergency Appeal now and help save lives.

Somalia: 90% of the country’s districts struck by drought

Somalia is amongst the hardest hit by the drought. Currently, almost 90 per cent of the country’s districts (66 out of 74) have been struck and approximately 4.3 million people are in desperate need of immediate aid.

According to the UN, 271,000 people in Somalia have been forced to abandon their homes in a desperate attempt to reach food, water, and pasture – exposing them to many more terrifying dangers.

Gender-based violence, disease outbreaks due to a lack of access to sanitation and hygiene facilities, a lack of adequate shelter and more, face the hundreds of thousands as they leave home in search of food and water.

The region is facing the longest sequence of poor rains since 1981 – an astonishing period of hardship facing the people of Somalia. A culmination of food and water shortages, protracted conflict, climatic shocks, disease outbreaks and the socio-economic impact of Covid-19 has put millions of people into an impossible situation.

Islamic Relief has worked in Somalia for 15 years and are now working tirelessly to respond to the current crisis unfolding.

Ethiopia: 400,000 are facing catastrophic hunger

Today, one of the world’s most extreme hunger crises is facing the people of Ethiopia. The UN estimates there are now 13.6 million people in dire need of food aid.

One of the worst areas to be hit by the growing drought crisis is Borena, in the Oromia region, which shares a southern border with Kenya. There, 69,000 livestock have died due to the effects of a drought, cutting off livelihoods and provisions for thousands of people who have nowhere else to turn for food and income.

To add further to the terrifying circumstances unfolding in Ethiopia, the northern region continues to be one of the most dangerous places to deliver aid.

Conflict in the northern region of Tigray in late 2020 has sprung into action blockades that prevent essential food and medicine from reaching people in need. As a result, many hundreds of thousands of people are starving to death.

Currently, the amount of people affected is unclear due to restricted access to the region, however the situation is dire. Over 5 million people in the area are facing food shortages, while approximately 400,000 are facing catastrophic levels of hunger.

Islamic Relief is one of the few international organisations providing foodstuffs such as oil, pulses, rice, sugar and salt on the ground. We also run eight mobile health units which are a crucial source of wellbeing for displaced people in the conflict-affected region of Afar in the north, with plans to extend our reach to those in the south.

Kenya: A growing crisis

The growing drought crisis in Kenya has been a devastating blow for the many vulnerable people living in the northern, north-eastern, and coastal areas of the country, who are now experiencing one of their worst rainfalls in decades.

For the millions of people who depend largely on agriculture for income, the drought has ripped them of their livelihoods and plunged them into dire circumstances. More than 1.4 million cows, sheep, goats, and camels have already died, causing milk production to drop to less than half of normal levels. Food insecurity across the country poses the biggest threat to the survival of children, the elderly, women and men.

With livestock rapidly declining, many have been forced to walk to source pasture, food and water supplies. Currently, 2.9 million people are in need of urgent food aid and humanitarian assistance.

Islamic Relief is providing thousands of drought-affected families with cash transfers to help people in remote areas. However, the crisis unfolding is unimaginable, and many are running out of time to find the means of their survival.

Islamic Relief are on the ground

Islamic Relief have been on the ground in these parts for over 15 years, working to provide sustainable solutions and response mechanisms to droughts occurring in the area. However, the frequency and intensity of the droughts are leaving these resilient communities with no time to recover in between disasters.

That’s why Islamic Relief urgently needs your help to support and provide the aid these people need to survive.

Boreholes, micro-dams, and new irrigation systems provided by Islamic Relief across the decades are effective long-term solutions for the many communities who have been able to reach them, or produce crops for a longer period. However, with hundreds of thousands fleeing to limited resources, Islamic Relief needs your help to provide urgent aid provisions, such as food, shelter, and water items.

© Copyright 2024 Islamic Relief Worldwide, Inc. All rights reserved.

QUICK DONATE