East Africa Child Hunger and Famine Relief Fund

Save the Children is on the ground providing lifesaving support to children and families in response to this devastating food crisis. Our priority is to reach children under age 5, who are less able to withstand malnutrition and are more susceptible to disease.

Our teams are screening children for malnutrition, running feeding programs and treating malnourished children in specialized health centers. We’re also providing clean water, addressing sanitation and hygiene to prevent diseases from spreading and providing support to families who’ve lost everything. 

We are working closely with governments, the United Nations and other humanitarian agencies to reach those who desperately need our help.  Our Emergency Health Units in Somalia, Kenya, South Sudan and Uganda have scaled up our efforts to screen and treat malnutrition, and provide primary health care and reproductive health services through fixed and mobile health units. 

This is a complex, protracted emergency. Save the Children will continue to respond as long as the need remains. 

South Sudan

Save the Children is on the front line of the relief effort in South Sudan as the lead health and nutrition provider in six of 10 states. We are:

· Running 45 outpatient therapeutic centers and 58 feeding program sites for infants and young children in the East Equatoria region, guarding children and their families against communicable diseases and increasing access to lifesaving drugs

· Continuing to monitor and contain cholera outbreaks by opening cholera treatment units and prepositioning medical supplies, water and sanitation equipment to save lives; responding to an increase in malaria, particularly in Abyei, with mosquito net distributions, anti-malarial drugs, health promotion and education on malaria prevention reaching almost 36,000 people, including almost 20,000 children

· Distributing emergency crop seeds to 2,500 household and cash transfers to families benefitting over 41,400 people 

 To date, we have reached over 335,000 beneficiaries, including almost 208,000 children.

Uganda

The Bidi Bidi refugee camp in Uganda is now the largest in the world, with almost 285,000 South Sudanese living in substandard conditions. Uganda also hosts Kenyans who have arrived in desperate search of water and grazing for livestock and people fleeing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. We are:

 · Supporting South Sudanese refugees in five camps with basic and reproductive health services through fixed and mobile health units 

· Running over 30 child-friendly spaces, 17 accelerated learning programs and classroom construction projects so that children can catch up on their education 

· Reuniting children who were separated from their families.

 To date, we have reached more than 84,800 beneficiaries, including over 72,200 children.

Ethiopia

There are an estimated 12.6 million people in need of food assistance Ethiopia. Parts of the country are experiencing an infestation of voracious army worms, which consume crops and pasture. We are:

 · Running 544 outpatient therapeutic treatment sites, 63 inpatient stabilization centers and many diarrhea treatment centers through our mobile health and nutrition teams

· Trucking water to places where internally displaced people have settled and installing water tanks

· Helping families find alternative incomes and providing animal feed

· Providing school feeding and learning for more than 7,000 children through our Education in Emergencies program.

 To date, we have reached more than 892,000 beneficiaries, including more than 472,000 children.

Somalia 

An estimated 6.2 million people are food insecure and the projected number of children who are acutely malnourished is estimated to be 1.2 million. The drought has also forced 40,000 children out of school as families enlist them to search for water. We are:

· Trucking water to the worst-affected communities benefitting over 72,000 households

· Providing cash transfers to vulnerable families

· Running nutrition screening and feeding programs for children and pregnant and lactating women

· Establishing a cholera task force and training local doctors and nurses to expand treatment services 

· Bringing over 50,000 children back to school through our emergency response, which includes school feeding, temporary learning spaces and safe drinking water

To date, Save the Children has reached over 3.2 million people, including more than 2 million children.

Kenya

The humanitarian situation in Kenya continues to worsen with 5.6 million people in need of assistance. We are:

· Conducting nutritional screenings and treatment in 149 sites in four of the driest counties in the north; alongside these screenings, we are providing children with curative and preventive health services

· Providing a supplemental feeding program in partnership with the World Food Program in Turkana County

· Helping to keep schools and health facilities open by trucking clean water and providing technical assistance in water well and storage systems

 To date, we have reached 574,000 beneficiaries, including almost 282,000 children.

Yemen

Yemen alone is facing the largest food security emergency in the world. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of the Humanitarian Affairs recently estimated that 20.7 million people – or nearly 7 in 10 Yemenis – require assistance resulting from civil war, collapsing services, food shortages and diseases.

· Responding with 400 national staff members to the crisis in nine governorates in the north, center and south of Yemen

· Distributing food, operating mobile health clinics and supporting 97 fixed health facilities; our health teams have consulted and treated over 213,000 people as of January 2017

· Treated over 60,000 children under age 5 for malnutrition with micronutrients and supported almost 74,000 people with food and cash transfers since the beginning of the year

· Running diarrheal treatment centers and oral rehydration therapy corners in response to the cholera outbreak; supporting hospitals with diagnosis and treatment through our mobile medical teams, and providing medical supplies and fuel to keep them open 

· Providing clean and safe water and improving sanitation and hygiene practices to reduce the spread of illness; we have joined other aid agencies in developing a cholera response plan and are appealing for funds for its programs

 We have reached over 747,000 people including more than 385,000 children with our multi-sectoral program responses.

Nigeria

Nigeria is also experiencing civil conflict, severe food insecurity, malnutrition, disease, and floods. About 4.6 million people are facing severe food insecurity. We have:

· Distributed monthly food baskets to vulnerable families; to date, over 33,000 households have been reached 

· Established seven outpatient therapeutic feeding centers that have served over 12,600 children and four outreach centers that provide infant and young child feeding support for those suffering from malnutrition. 

· Engaged over 33,000 girls and boys in psychosocial support activities at 15 child-friendly spaces and thousands of children ages 3-5 in our Temporary Learning Spaces

· Provided training on cholera prevention and hygiene sensitization to reduce risk of transmission 

 To date, we have reached over 699,000 beneficiaries, including over 481,000 children. 

Niger

Floods and displacement are the main causes of humanitarian needs in Neger where 2.2 million people required assistance in 2017. We have:

 Provided access to clean water and are educating people about good hygiene

Provided medical supplies to health centers and screening and treated malnourished children, including over 650 children in September alone; trained health workers on the prevention and management of hepatitis E, and vaccinated 4,400 children against preventable diseases

Trained community volunteers in child protection, conducted awareness campaigns and provided psychosocial support to children

Distributed food to households in need and planned electronic cash transfers to 4,000 vulnerable families

We have reached over 220,600 people including almost 93,400 children since January this year.