Telling the ECSA Story

With over 600 people dead, 5,100 injured, approximately 730,000 displaced, and few health centers operational, the dire situation in Sudan is getting worse, with growing health and hunger concerns. The conflict threatens the planting season which is set to begin at the end of May. If the season is missed, the number of people going hungry —at 11 million or 25 percent of the population prior to the current crisis—will increase. Before the conflict, one out of four people in Sudan was going to bed hungry. This additional (and imminent) threat to Sudan’s food system will impact women the most, a reality underscored by a recent analysis by CARE Sudan that found gender imbalances in the country’s existing hunger crises. David Macdonald, CARE Sudan Country Director, said, “With the ongoing crisis, women are eating less. Before the current crisis, 42% of households headed by women had less food compared to 31% of male-headed households. Women are key in the food production chain and with...

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...