Telling the ECSA Story

   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 ...

  Portrait of Agnes in front of one of the 10 latrines she built in her village. In Zimbabwe’s Masvingo Province in Chikore village head Agnes Chikore, 63 is working to better the lives and health of her community. She has gone the extra mile to stop the spread of diseases, such as cholera, by making sure her village is open defecation free. Ward 27 has 42 villages, out of these, 41 villages are led by men with Agnes Chikore being the only female village head. The fearless village head, and mother of seven, tackled open defecation which was very common due to a lack of toilets, washing facilities, and sanitation knowledge. Building a latrine was never a priority among many and most could not afford the cement to build one. “Due to this our food and water were contaminated. During the mango season, we’d have close to 20 diarrhoeal cases every week. Now we rarely have any . Our children were openly defecating near the houses and we would simply get a stick and scrape it aw...

Joan, Jikaze Wajane saving group, standing in front of her beauty shop/CARE International.   As of the end of April 2021 , 159.318 confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported in Kenya and the national rate of positive COVID-19 cases stood at 9.7%. Kakamega and Bungoma, two counties in the western part of Kenya with the second largest rural population, managed to control COVID-19 better than other regions because of special support from the government for vulnerable rural communities. Especially movement restrictions helped to keep infections and COVID-related deaths at a lower level compared to other regions in the country. But people still suffer from all of the COVID-related restrictions. Many people lose their jobs and deal with trauma often because of COVID-related stigmatization.   Joan Naisimiu lives in Bungoma county in Kenya – an area close to the border of Uganda. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the 24-year-old mother of two lost her job. “I am worried about how I will be ab...

Women leave their homes and heading to IDP Camps in caravans in search of refuge much-needed and sustenance. Saddam Mohamed/CARE International FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 25, 2022 - As donors convene in Geneva, over 50 NGOs and NGO networks call for an urgent and substantial step-up in funding and leadership to respond to the humanitarian catastrophe facing millions in the Horn of Africa due to the severe drought, warning that further delays will cost lives.     This drought is compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, desert locusts, and now a further surge in food and commodity prices due to the conflict in Ukraine. Over 14 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya - about half of them children - are already on the verge of starvation. This number will rise to 20 million by the middle of 2022 if the rains continue to fail, prices continue to rise, and significant funds are not surged to meet the needs of those in crisis. In Somalia alone, over half a million people...