CARE Canada

Published purpose

26 July 2011 - The year 2011 is proving to be the driest year since 1951 in many parts of east Africa as a result of an increasingly severe drought. Successive seasons of failed rains, combined with increasing food prices, conflict, and limited humanitarian access, have resulted in food insecurity, water shortages, and acute malnutrition rates well above emergency thresholds. Between 11 and 12 million people are now in need of humanitarian assistance in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. With CIDA support, CARE Canada is helping to meet the immediate needs of an estimated 8,700 Somalis who have been displaced by the ongoing drought. Three feeding centres in the Gedo and Lower Juba regions are providing nutritional support to acutely malnourished children and pregnant and lactating women. Safe water is being provided through chlorination of existing water sources and through water trucking, where necessary. And, finally, essential household items (jerry cans, blankets, soap, mosquito nets) are being distributed to displaced households.