Telling the ECSA Story

    A mother feeding her child at the hospital bed at a health center in Bentiu. A staggering 57%, of children under 5 are estimated to be suffering from some form of illness due to lack of access to health services. As the country marks 11 years of independence on 9 th July, there is a lot to reflect on,   as the country continues to face deteriorating humanitarian conditions. These have been exacerbated by endemic violence, access constraints, public health challenges such as the effects of cholera, COVID-19, and climatic shocks from flooding and localized drought. This has had an impact on people’s way of life and hampers access to education, water, sanitation and hygiene, and health services. The humanitarian situation in South Sudan has worsened despite the relative peace and implementation of the Revitalized Agreement on the Resolution of Conflict in South Sudan(R-ARCSS). In 2022, the humanitarian community estimates that more than two-thirds of the South Sudanese...

   A mother is heeding her child with plumbee nuts at a health facility in Bentiu. B etween January and June 2022, CARE supported Health facilities have treated over 26,000 children . A staggering 63 percent of South Sudan’s population will struggle to survive the peak of this year’s annual ‘lean season’, with 87,000 people predicted to be in catastrophic food crisis category – at the risk of starvation and death - whilst humanitarian agencies are forced to cut services due to lack of funds. According to Benoit Munsch, CARE Managing Deputy Regional Director for Great Lakes, “South Sudan was recently flagged, in a UN WFP/FAO hunger hotspots report , as being on the brink of starvation. The needs and the number of people going hungry are rising, while food assistance programmes are being cut thus leaving huge gaps in humanitarian funding. The current funding gap stands at $529 Million.” Over 7.7 million people are classified in Crisis or worse in South Sudan, with some 3 ...

 Indicators point to the erosion of gains made for girls' and women's rights in Somalia as the drought worsens. Girls are being forced to drop out of school putting them at risk of harmful traditional practices such as early marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). Women-run businesses have been hit especially hard with 98% of them having lost revenue and income due to the high cost of goods, and 51% have been forced to close. Photo by Saddam Mohamed/CARE As the primary caregivers in the home, women have the responsibility of taking care of children and this can be extremely difficult when their source of income is disrupted. In Dhobley, Somalia, 42-year-old Faduma arrives at an IDP camp with 100 frail goats from her home in Wajir, Kenya. These are all that remain of her herd which comprised of 300 goats that provided her with milk and meat. She has traveled over 200 kilometers with her four children in order to try and sell the remaining goats. “ Unfortunately, most of ou...

As the conflict in Ukraine continues, hundreds of kilometers away, communities in Africa are feeling the ripple effects. Across the East, Central, and Southern Africa Region, ordinary citizens are experiencing the initial effects even as indicators, and analysts, point to even more adverse repercussions hitting the region within the next six months. In Kenya, citizens took to social media, under the hashtag #LowerFoodPrices, to vent their frustrations. In response to this, the government reverted indicating that the rising cost was a result of the conflict. While in DRC, inflation of oil, petrol, and gas prices has led to an increase in transport costs for both people and foodstuffs and this threatens CARE’s ongoing projects if the conflict is long-drawn-out. Somalia is currently in the grips of a worsening drought and the conflict in Ukraine makes the situation even more direr. The price of wheat and oil has already risen by 300%. Iman Abdullahi, CARE Somalia Country Director said, “O...