Dida Dabasa and his family have always depended on agriculture. But since 2005 the rains have been erratic, destroying harvests, laments the 80-year-old. This year isn’t any better. “We are scared that the Hagaya rains might also fail like the Gana rains, and if that happens we will surely suffer. Hunger is knocking on our door.”©Tamara Plush/CARE

Ethiopia
Severe drought in early 2008 and the failure of seasonal rains in early 2009 has left 6.2 million people in need of emergency food assistance. CARE is building and rehabilitating water infrastructure to create access to potable water for drought-affected people, providing extra food to malnourished women and children, and providing emergency food rations to more than 300,000 people affected by hunger. To address long-term food insecurity, CARE is distributing seeds and livestock to support household income.

CARE is responding to the recent outbreak of Acute Watery Diarrhea by providing water purification sachets and training communities about how to treat water to make it safe for drinking, and how to prevent water-borne illnesses.

Affected population: 6.2 million people
CARE is helping: 569,336 people

Somalia
Decades-long civil war combined with three years of drought have left 3.6 million people in need of assistance. Families are migrating in search of water. Water sources are running out, and overcrowding over water sources is increasing the risk of further conflict. Some areas have reached malnutrition rates of 18 percent, well above the 15 percent threshold that constitutes a crisis.

CARE is helping people by installing and rehabilitating water distribution points and boreholes for drinking water and so herders can water their livestock, and building sanitation equipment such as latrines, to help prevent the spread of waterborne illness.

Affected population: 3.6 million people
CARE is helping: 311,511 people

Immediate emergency measures are needed to help the more than 20 million people in need of food assistance. In Ethiopia, CARE is distributing emergency food rations and nutritional supplements for children.©Alix Carter Kenya More than 10 million people in Kenya are food insecure. The election violence in 2008 caused hundreds of thousands to flee, meaning many families missed the planting season and lost a harvest. Drought and conflict are causing Somali refugees to stream into camps in Dadaab, Northern Kenya, in record numbers, straining the capacities of aid agencies to respond and draining the already scarce water supplies in the region. CARE is providing food aid, water and sanitation, education and community development activities to 290,000 people in the Dadaab refugee camps, and is implementing programs in drought-affected areas of Kenya to build people’s animal-caretaking and health skills, manage and maintain water sources, and help communities diversify their income sources so they are less reliant on livestock during times of drought. Affected population: 10 million people CARE is helping: 390,000 people