South Sudan is one of the most food insecure countries in the world, with half the country – more than 5 million people – facing life-threatening hunger. The situation is expected to further deteriorate throughout the year. Families are barely surviving by eating leaves and roots and children are suffering from excruciating hunger.

Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia are also affected by this region-wide hunger crisis.

CARE is already responding to the risk of famine. We cannot let this continue.

Families desperately need your help, please donate to our East Africa appeal to help families in South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia before it’s too late. 

Women and girls are particularly at risk. When families resort to skipping meals and eating once a day, women and girls eat least and last. Women and girls are also responsible for collecting water, but as drought conditions worsen they have to walk up to 50 kilometres per day in search for water.

We need your help. Right now, CARE’s teams are on the ground providing lifesaving support in some of the worst affected areas:

• We are providing critical medicines and healthcare to children suffering from malnutrition, diarrhoea and cholera
• We are providing food aid and cash vouchers to parents so they can feed their children
• We are distributing seeds so families can replant devastated crops
• We are making sure families have clean drinking water

We are already providing emergency help to 708,000 people in South Sudan, 28,589 people in Kenya, 655,000 people in Somalia and over 1.5 million people in Ethiopia.

But we must do more to prevent famine.

Famine is declared when certain measures of mortality, malnutrition and hunger are met. These are:

• at least 20% of households in an area face extreme food shortages with a limited ability to cope;
• acute malnutrition rates exceed 30%;
• and the death rate exceeds two persons per day per 10,000 persons.

Please donate to help hungry families in South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia before it’s too late. 

About CARE Australia.

CARE Australia is a leading international aid organisation that works around the globe to save lives and defeat poverty. We know we cannot overcome poverty until all people have equal rights and opportunities.

We put women and girls at the heart of our work. Their access to equal opportunities represents a powerful and effective opportunity to end extreme poverty. When one woman escapes poverty, she will bring four others with her.

We work hard to ensure your donation makes the biggest impact.

In 2019/20, CARE Australia spent:

91% of total expenditure on our programs, including education programs in Australia to raise awareness of poverty overseas
6% was reinvested to raise future funds
3% was spent on administration and our talented people.

Our expert staff, strong accountability measures and world-class computer infrastructure all contribute to a better organisation and better aid outcomes.

That’s why when a small fraction of your donation goes to administration, it’s not taking away from the life-changing work that we do – it’s supporting it.

For more information, please visit our Annual Reports page.