ATLANTA (March 27, 2001) -- Amid projections that up to 1 million people face starvation in Afghanistan due to drought and political instability, the international relief and development agency CARE continues to build upon its ongoing development projects in an effort to meet growing emergency needs.

With headquarters based in Pakistan and several sub-offices located throughout Afghanistan, CARE remains committed to addressing the ongoing problems of wide spread poverty, food shortages and inadequate sanitation with particular attention to programs that build women's capacity to earn a living and support their families.

CARE's current emergency programs in Afghanistan include the following:

• Drought Assistance: With more than 12 million people affected by drought in the country, CARE is helping upwards of 50,000 people in Logar province repair water supply systems to improve their access to safe water and to restore agricultural production.
• Food Assistance: Drought and conflict have drastically affected the northwestern region of Heart and other areas. Through innovative programming in partnership with local NGOs, CARE is distributing more than 8,000 metric tons of wheat to approximately 20,000 families.

These emergency programs build upon the following long term development efforts throughout the country:

• Primary Education: CARE is assisting community owned schools in southern Afghanistan to provide basic education to 19,000 boys and girls.
• Emergency Widow's Feeding: More than 40,000 widows head households in Kabul and maintaining adequate food supplies is a constant battle. CARE is providing supplementary food rations, distributed by an all-female team, to 7,000 widows to ensure that more than 30,000 people maintain basic nutritional levels.
• Livelihood Security: In a program to secure the basic needs of thousands of Afghanis returning to the country, CARE helps communities identify, develop and implement project activities designed to rehabilitate the rural economy.
• Water and Sanitation: This project aims to rehabilitate the municipal water supply and improve street drainage and urban sanitation in the capital, Kabul. Benefiting more than 175,000 people, this program employs up to 4,000 men each month on a food-for-work basis, improving the local economy.

CARE in Afghanistan:

CARE established operations in Afghanistan in 1961. The first projects focused on medical training and improving health care services. The 1979 Soviet invasion and civil war that followed made it necessary for CARE to suspend operations from 1980 until 1989. CARE's main office for its programs in Afghanistan are located in Peshawar, Pakistan, near the Afghan/Pakistani border, but the organization maintains sub-offices in Kabul and five other cities.

Media Contact: