World food crisis
People in poor countries spend between 40 and 80% of their income on food, so when prices go up, people struggle to make ends meet.
Hundreds of millions of the world’s poorest children, already suffering from severe malnutrition, could face an even bleaker future as developing nations grapple with food, fuel and financial crises.
Save the Children is urging world leaders to seize this moment to mobilise a global response and not to turn their backs on children suffering from chronic malnourishment, either at home or in the developing world.
What do we want?
We’re asking Douglas Alexander to show leadership and to help tackle the urgent food need in Ethiopia. Save the Children is appealing for US$20 million to help around 900,000 people, including 325,000 children, who are bearing the brunt of the food crisis there. We ask Douglas Alexander to help us.
But this problem is not just about handing out food parcels. We need long term solutions also. We want to see poor countries getting more support to build their own social security systems — to provide safety nets for people in need during short term crises. This will also help them meet their basic needs during better times. Even when there is no obvious crisis, more than eight million people cannot feed themselves or provide health care to their children.
Who’s at risk
More than nine million children die before their fifth birthdays every year and over a third of these deaths are caused by a lack of decent food.
Younger children, especially those under the age of two, are the most vulnerable to the impacts of prolonged hunger including weight loss and high susceptibility to illness. Over time, hunger and undernutrition results in permanent negative effects on physical and cognitive growth, from which children never recover. At worst, malnutrition is a major contributor to about half of all deaths of children under five years old around the world.
What Save the Children is doing
Save the Children’s food distribution programs provide carefully targeted relief in emergency contexts. Save the Children’s long-term programs also play a critical role in mitigating the food crisis. Two key programs, Food Security and Hunger and Malnutrition, aim to ensure that children live in food-secure households and are well-nourished.
Our teams in Niger are simultaneously tackling emergency and long term needs with programmes to treat malnutrition and prevent its recurrence, and support to help families strengthen their resilience to shocks like drought or sharp food price rises.
In Burkina Faso, we’ve started a feeding programme for children.
In Ethiopia the global food crisis has left 75,000 children severely malnourished. We’re also providing long-term help within communities, providing training and supplies to support people’s livelihoods.
What you can do
We urgently need to find more resources so we can provide life-saving nutritional support for children. Poor households need our vital health services and support to protect their livelihoods, and they need it now.
Support our work by making a donation to Save the Children’s Ethiopia Food Crisis Emergency Appeal online or by calling our emergency appeal line on 0800 8148 148.
More information
Read more about Save the Children’s healthcare and nutrition work in Ethiopia.
