Child food crisis - you can save children from hunger




 

  • Every day, 16,000 children under five die from hunger-related causes
  • Hunger makes children weak and less able to fight off infection and disease
  • The cost to feed every small child in danger from hunger is AUD$4.31 billion
  • Each year Australians throw away food worth AUD$5.2 billion 
CARE staff are reporting that in Niger and Malawi, where three years of drought have led to extremely poor harvests, hundreds of thousands of children are acutely malnourished. Animal feed has been destroyed and families are struggling to keep their livestock alive. Selling livestock to buy food is no longer a viable coping strategy.

In Ethiopia and Timor-Leste, CARE is treating severely malnourished babies and children that are half the weight they should be, their mothers so weak they have stopped producing breast milk.

Using MUAC tapes (Middle Upper Arm Circumference) to measure each child’s upper arm, too many are ‘severely’ malnourished, the red section on the tape which indicates that death may be close.

CARE treats malnourished children with an electrolyte and protein-rich diet to stabilise their digestive system and help them gain weight. Protecting children from hunger in the first place is also an important part of our work.

We are supporting mothers through pregnancy, childbirth, and while breast-feeding to give babies the best chance to survive and grow strong. This includes improving nutrition by establishing kitchen gardens, providing women with start-up business loans so they can make their families self-sufficient, and encouraging girls to attend school so they can become qualified to get good jobs where they can become independent.

CARE is also supporting communities to better cope through difficult times such as drought. Giliseliya, a mother of four from Malawi, didn't have enough food for six months of the year. But with CARE's help, now she says, 'I learnt how to plant crops, how to manage soil, grow sweet potato, maize and ground nuts. I feel very proud today because my children are going to school, and we have enough to eat.' You can support CARE's work to help save children and families from hunger.

CARE's response in food crisis regions focuses on three objectives:

Reduce food shortages

© Stephane Petitprez/CARE

Cereal banks
Targeted food distributions
Cash for work
Supplementary feeding
School feeding 
Water and sanitation

Minimise loss of livestock and household assets

Fodder distribution
Feed for animals
Cash transfers for restocking animals
Rehabilitate wells and bore-holes

Increase household livelihood security

Cash transfers to help families restock
Supplementary feeding

 

From years of experience CARE knows that life-protecting work starts with women and girls – they’re the ones most hurt by poverty, and face the greatest threat at times of hunger crisis.

Please help to protect and save children's lives now. 


How you can help:  

  • $60 can strengthen communities in times of drought 
  • $85 can help provide children with nutritious meals 
  • $100 can help support family food security



Donate now online or by calling 1800 020 046.
Your donation is tax deductible.