CARE operates three refugee camps in Dadaab, Kenya, which are home to almost 400,000 refugees, mostly from neighboring Somalia. The Horn of Africa is experiencing the "worst humanitarian disaster in the world," which is causing the camps to be stretched to the limit. There is no end to the drought or food crisis in site.

Keep up with the latest on the Horn of Africa food crisis and CARE's emergency relief efforts in Dadaab >

Background

Chronic food insecurity has spiraled into a massive humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, where today more than 10 million people are in acute need of assistance. The situation, affecting large parts of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Uganda, is only expected to deteriorate at least until next year, with some areas experiencing the worst drought in 60 years and no sign of resumed rains in sight.

Some 1,300 refugees a day, the vast majority from war-torn Somalia, are pouring into the Dadaab refugee camps in Kenya – now the world's largest such site, with almost 400,000 displaced people in three camps originally designed for 90,000.

CARE's Work

CARE has worked in Dadaab since 1992 and is the primary provider of basic services including food, water and sanitation. In cooperation with U.N. agencies, we are rushing to increase distributions to new arrivals, but the pipeline of aid available through the World Food Program is expected to run dry by September.

Emergency Response:

Our short-term efforts include emergency aid to newly arrived refugees in Dadaab. Individuals, especially children, who are suffering from malnutrition and medical problems are referred to supplementary and therapeutic feeding programs and stabilization units in camp hospitals. Families are provided with two weeks' worth of food rations and other essentials including tents, kitchen sets, firewood and fuel-efficient stoves) while awaiting registration and access to general food distributions. For those who are in spontaneous settlements outside the perimeter of the official camps, the humanitarian community is planning improvements including safe water and sanitation, improved security, and access to health services and emergency shelter.

Long-Term Response:

Along with our work helping meet the acute needs of refugees, CARE in continuing our ongoing interventions on behalf of those who remain at home in some of the worst-affected parts of the Horn of Africa:

• In Ethiopia, CARE is scaling up its emergency response to address the needs of 855,000 people in the sectors of food assistance; nutrition; water, sanitation and hygiene; and support to livelihoods including agriculture and livestock. Our ongoing work has already reached more than 241,000 people in the Afar and Oromia regions – where we also provide services to help pastoralists keep their livestock healthy.
  
  
• In Somalia, CARE has assisted 164,000 people in the northern regions of Puntland and Somaliland, focusing on water harvesting and livelihood assistance to the most vulnerable families. We plan to scale up our work to address water, sanitation and livelihoods needs.
  
  
• In Kenya, in addition to our work serving the 376,000 residents of the Dadaab camps, in the coming weeks CARE plans to scale up to reach an additional 200,000 people in the country's hard-hit northeast. We have already assisted 167,000 people in the region, where we support water resource management, veterinary care, livelihood diversification and locally-owned disaster risk management.

You can help today by making a gift to support CARE's hunger and poverty-fighting work
in the Horn of Africa and poor countries around the world.