Red Cross Pledges Up To $1M For East Africa

livestock have dried up in the worsening drought, causing many families to uproot and migrate in search of viable food and water sources. The rising cost of fuel and food as well as political insecurity in some areas of Somalia has also exacerbated problems.

“Many people are living in the open or in makeshift camps,” Patel said. “They represent a heavy burden for the host communities that share their scarce resources with them. Most of the displaced have nothing left to sell and cannot buy food, which is resulting in even higher malnutrition rates among displaced people.”

In the face of this growing humanitarian tragedy, the Somali Red Crescent, with support from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), is expanding its existing outpatient therapeutic feeding programs in southern Somalia. Together, they are also launching an additional feeding program for malnourished children under five and other vulnerable groups, such as pregnant and lactating women, and recruiting additional nurses and nutritionists to visit people in the worst affected areas. The two organizations are also complementing the feeding programs with targeted food distributions.

In Somalia, Red Cross and Red Crescent teams are also offering medical treatments as well as distributing seeds, farming tools, irrigation pumps and fishing equipment to help stabilize livelihoods. And in Kenya and Ethiopia, the Red Cross is helping those affected by the drought through school feeding programs, well rehabilitation, water trucking and general food distribution.

Even with these activities, the region’s current and predicted need far outweighs the humanitarian response. With no likelihood of improvement until early 2012, the situation will require large scale and sustained humanitarian assistance.

“The tragedy in the Horn of Africa is chronic, and even as we respond with emergency aid for these new developments, we must also work on longer-term solutions,” Patel said. “The global Red Cross and Red Crescent network was one of the first organizations to sound the alarm and launch an international response, but the solution to this crisis is a long-term commitment to building up resilience and capacity within the region’s most vulnerable communities.”

Gifts to the American Red Cross can support the disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the drought and current humanitarian emergency in Horn of Africa.  The public may visit www.redcross.org or call 1-800-RED-CROSS. Contributions may also be sent to local American Red Cross chapters or to this location at the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013.

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