International community not doing enough to fight famine in East Africa, says Christian Aid

The Christian development agency Christian Aid calls on the international community to act to fight famine in East Africa, saying that the current aid system "is not adapted to respond to the ever-increasing scale of the crises emerging”.

Christian Aid recently published a Press release, which calls the international community's response "to the warning signs of a hunger crisis" in East Africa "grossly inadequate".

A UK development agency report published in August 2022 titled "Ripping Off the Band Aid", indicates that hunger has more than doubled over the past year in this region of the world.

The document shows that the number of food insecure people in Ethiopia has risen dramatically, from 5,2 million to 20 million. While it is now 4,1 million people who are facing food insecurity in Kenya, against 2,1 million a year ago.

The Christian organization believes that these data testify to the fact that the current aid system “is not adapted to respond to the ever-increasing scale of emerging crises”.

Mbaraka Fazal, head of global humanitarian aid for Christian Aid in Kenya, denounces a “moral scandal”.

“In a world where there is enough food for all, it is morally outrageous for people to starve. »

“While helping people who are currently facing deadly hunger is of the utmost importance, we also need to start thinking longer term. We have to accept that the aid system is just a plaster that is unable to respond to the ever-increasing scale of emerging crises,” he continues.

He adds that according to the experience of the Christian organization “the capacity of the populations to resist bad harvests and the increase in food prices can be considerably improved by a preventive action of support”.

“To break the cycle of hunger, it's time to rip the bandage off and invest in building resilient communities during and between crises. This requires government-backed funding and local knowledge to complement early warning systems and anticipatory actions,” the humanitarian work concludes.

Camille Westphal Perrier

Image credit: Shutterstock / Ericky Boniphace / Kenya, February 2022