Responding to East Africa's Hunger Crisis - April 2018

A total of 1,091,876 people in crisis in Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan were reached with World Vision's response in April 2018. 

KEY ACHIEVEMENTS:

• 575,340 children reached through various response activities 
• 584,485 people received food assistance and income-earning opportunities through various food security and livelihood programme models
• 228,628 people were able to access clean water, sanitation and hygiene services
• 114,673 people received health care assistance
• 86,737 children received support to get an education

Still, there is more work to do. 

KEY CONCERNS: 

• Families facing starvation: More than 12 million children go to bed hungry across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya everyday. Children don’t have enough to eat becaus of various crises – drought, conflict, flooding or hyperinflation that has made food too expensive in the market.
• Malnutrition epidemic: 9 million children under age 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers require nutrition assistance and, without it, children’s growth and health will be irreversibly damaged.
• Children at risk: When families don’t have the ability to grow or purchase food, children pay the price. Increased hunger forces ever younger girls into early marriage, makes children drop out of school, pushes boys and girls into child labour and other dangerous ways of surviving, thus dimming their opportunities for the future.
• Children on the move: Natural disasters and conflict has forced 8.5 million people to flee their homes across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Conflict is the largest driver of displacement – with children often witnessing or experiencing horrific violence, exploitation and abuse.
• Flooding: More than a million people are affected by flooding in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, with more than half a million people forced to abandon their homes due to rising waters.

World Vision continues to respond to the needs of families in crises in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, reaching more than a million people in April 2018 alone. Still, large-scale, long-term lifesaving assistance is needed to avoid spikes in malnutrition and death. World Vision is appealing for an additional $67 million to increase its response across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya.

For more information about World Vision's response achievements, locations and other details, please download (pdf) our April 2018 Situation Report.