The Horn of Africa — Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia — is currently experiencing the worst drought in 40 years, and it has been worsening over the past few years. Four consecutive poor rain seasons have led to an exceptional drought affecting Somalia, southern and southeastern Ethiopia, and eastern Kenya. Rising food prices due to the war in Ukraine, conflicts and lack of governance in the region further aggravate the situation. A lot of people are forced to leave their homes in a desperate search of food, pasture, water and alternative livelihoods.
Thanks to the solidarity of the Swiss population, Swiss Solidarity is providing aid in the mostly very remote regions badly affected by the drought. In many places, for example, up to 90% of the livestock essential for survival has died. The local people are in a precarious situation and fear for their future. Swiss Solidarity finances projects of its Swiss partner organizations for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition, especially among children, pregnant women and nursing mothers, ensures access to health services, food and water and supports families in agriculture and livestock farming. 45% of the donations collected were used in Ethiopia, 35% in Kenya and 20% in Somalia.
António Guterres, UN Secretary-General warned of an imminent “hurricane of hunger” and said that “we must do everything possible to avert a meltdown of the global food system. This war goes far beyond Ukraine. It is also an assault on the world’s most vulnerable people and countries.”
Given the scale of the drought, affected people will need many years to recover from the consequences and rebuild their livelihoods. Sustainable solutions must be found to address the impacts of climate change in the long term, in particular by investing in resilient livelihoods.
People with disabilities are particularly affected by food shortages. Often, they are dependent on their relatives to manage their daily lives. The Christoffel Blindenmission Schweiz supports these people in Turkana County in Kenya with crutches, wheelchairs, hearing aids and other mobility, visual and hearing aids and enables them to receive medical treatment.
The most visible consequence of the current humanitarian crisis in the East Africa is the acute malnutrition, this especially concerns children. Several of our Swiss partner organisations such as Medair, the Terre des Hommes Foundation and Save the Children Switzerland are supporting health centres and providing life-saving nutritional support to young children, pregnant women and new mothers.
Due to the drought and the migration of the population in search of water, many vital wells are overused or damaged. Therefore, HEKS is rehabilitating and maintaining the damaged wells with support of Swiss Solidarity. Thus, water supply for the local population in Konso, Ethiopia is ensured.
In East Africa, many families depend on healthy livestock. It provides essential milk and meat needed for survival, especially by children, lactating and pregnant women, the elderly and the sick. Due to the drought, up to 90% of livestock have died in some regions. VSF-Suisse supports these nomadic families by providing feed and veterinary services for livestock, as well as cash transfers to help families obtain food from local markets.
In Ethiopia, Helvetas provides cash supply to women’s associations to help them develop sustainable livelihoods and thus strengthen communities against climate-related droughts. This financial support is combined with training that enables beneficiaries to develop a business plan and properly manage their enterprises.
"Food insecurity is the most visible consequence of the climate crisis in the Horn of Africa, but the impact of the disaster goes far beyond that: many families can no longer afford to send their children to school, early marriages, violence against women and conflict are other dramatic consequences of the drought."Aurore Geiser, Humanitarian Programme Manager
The current devastating situation surrounding the drought in East Africa has several causes. A repeated lack of rainfall has made it impossible for populations to prepare for future droughts by building up reserves. The idea of reserves—food, livestock or seeds—is that you can draw on them in bad times. But when it becomes impossible for people to build up reserves for several years in a row, it becomes equally impossible to draw on them in a dire situation like the one we are seeing today. Other factors influencing the situation include conflicts that are forcing families to leave their homes, livestock or pastures, rising food prices due to the war in Ukraine, and plagues of locusts that have wiped out major crops in recent years.
In 2017, Swiss Solidarity raised over CHF 19 million in donations with the help of the people of Switzerland. This made it possible for 12 of our Swiss partner organisations to carry out more than 20 projects, which helped to avert the most dramatic outcomes. As in 2017, the situation has been worsening steadily over time. However, other factors could lead the current situation to deteriorate further, especially the ripple effects the war in Ukraine is having on the global food situation. The sheer duration of the drought, which has made it impossible to build up emergency food stocks, along with conflicts and the economy, which took a severe hit during COVID-19, are also threatening the livelihoods of millions of people.
With donations from the people of Switzerland, we can, among other things, carry out projects with our Swiss partner organisations already working on the ground to distribute food and provide the population with access to drinking water. We also make it possible for people, even those who have lost their livelihood, to buy food and treat the sick and injured. We use your donations to fund projects being led by our Swiss partner organisations on the ground.
Over 36 million people in Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia are suffering from food and water shortages. Children are being hit especially hard: some 5 million children in the Horn of Africa are already suffering from acute to severe malnutrition, leaving them weakened and much less able to fight diarrhoeal diseases and others, such as cholera.
The current drought in East Africa is the result of several years of below-average or a complete lack of rainfall in the region. The drought is most likely linked to climate change and could be one of the worst such crises to hit the Horn of Africa in recent memory. In addition to the climate-related challenges caused by below-average rainfall, factors such as conflicts, rising food prices and locust infestations are further complicating matters.
Yes, the war in Ukraine is having a big impact on the situation in East Africa, as well as on other regions of the world. Together, Ukraine and Russia are responsible for 30% of the world’s wheat supply. Around 20% of the world’s maize supply also comes from these two countries, as does 80% of the world’s sunflower oil. If this supply from Ukraine and Russia drops significantly, the people of East Africa will be able to import less food or will be dealt a severe blow by skyrocketing food prices. Countries that rely on imports of significant quantities of these foods are greatly affected—for example, Somalia imported 90% of its wheat from Ukraine and is now facing additional problems.
Swiss Solidarity’s Swiss partner organisations working on the ground – including Caritas Switzerland, HEKS, Die Stiftung Terre des hommes, Helvetas, Medair and Save the Children Switzerland – are already providing emergency aid to ensure access to clean drinking water, health care and food through cash distributions. They also run projects to treat and prevent malnutrition among children and pregnant or breastfeeding women.
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