Save the Children NZ donates to East African emergency

Save the Children NZ donates to East African emergency as children face starvation

Save the Children New Zealand is donating $25,000 to get life-saving help to millions of Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali children who are facing starvation in what the UN has called the region's worst drought in 60 years.

A deadly combination of failed rains and soaring global food prices has left more than nine million people living in remote areas across the region - more than half of them children - without enough food and water and at risk of malnutrition.

As a result, Save the Children New Zealand is donating $25,000 to the Save the Children International emergency appeal and is asking Kiwis help provide relief for this this disaster.

More than a quarter of children in the worst hit parts of Kenya are now dangerously malnourished, and in Somalia malnutrition rates have now reached 30 per cent in some areas.

Save the Children International has already launched a major humanitarian response in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia, feeding tens of thousands of underweight children, providing life-saving medical treatment, and getting clean water to remote communities.

"Thousands of children could starve if we don't get life-saving help to them fast," said Matt Croucher, Save the Children's regional emergency manager for East Africa.

"Parents no longer have any way to feed their children; they've lost their animals, their wells have dried up and food is too expensive to afford.

"We can stop this tragedy unfolding. We urgently need to raise funds so we can save more children's lives."

Save the Children's response:

* We are distributing life-saving water to areas severely affected by the drought and improving water supply and sanitation facilities in health clinics and schools.

* We are providing jerry cans, water filters and water purification tablets to ensure that water is safe to drink.

* We are treating tens of thousands of malnourished children and pregnant and breastfeeding women at our emergency feeding centres.

* We are helping families afford nutritious food by distributing food vouchers, whilst supporting the local market to function.

* We are supporting people who have lost their incomes through cash transfers, enabling them to buy essential items for their children.

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