Attachments
- 733 million people, globally, are living with hunger, including in crises like Sudan and climate-affected regions in Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya.
- Aid cuts will hinder the significant progress being made across a region that has been seeing innovation and success
- The Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger by 2030 is feared to be under threat
International children’s charity World Vision is highlighting significant progress being made in East Africa region to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal 2: Zero Hunger and sow resilience within communities when it comes to hunger and malnutrition. However, cuts to international aid threaten to undermine progress across the region.
More than 733 million people around the world are living with hunger, with only 2 out of every 5 children having access to nutritious school meals globally. In East Africa specifically, hunger and malnutrition have reached critical levels, driven by factors like climate change, as extreme weather events like droughts, floods, and heatwaves disrupt agricultural production, leading to reduced crop yields and increased food prices. Recent cuts to foreign aid are set to add to these issues with impacts in global programmes too, the same programmes that ensure children are receiving food as well as clean water and access to education.
- In Ethiopia, 10.2 million people, including over 3 million IDPs, are severely food insecure.
- In Kenya, 34.5% of the population is undernourished.
- In Uganda, 25.4% of children under five are stunted due to malnutrition.
“World Vision’s work in East Africa is vital as factors like climate change and conflict contribute to hunger, malnutrition and food insecurity experience by so many children,” said Teleri Jardine, Head of Programme Quality at World Vision UK. “No child should go to bed hungry, and no child’s future should be threatened by malnutrition, which is why World Vision is committed to its ongoing work across East Africa to partner with communities to address not only immediate concerns, but long-term solutions. This will help build resilience for the future, but this cannot be done if international aid continues to be deprioritised on the global stage.”
World Vision’s long-term community programmes are tackling hunger and malnutrition across the region, including communities in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda. Community-based solutions work with community leaders to identify problems and address them, and through education on effective farming techniques, providing nutritional support, health clinics, and more, World Vision works to set up families for success in the long-term.
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration in Ethiopia, for example, has rehabilitated over 3,000 hectares of farming land and has strengthened local livelihoods by increasing grass cover for livestock, availability of firewood, recovery of springs and groundwater and reducing erosion and flooding.
“My mum used to struggle a lot in meeting our basic needs,” said 14-year-old Faith in Kenya. “After the training that she got from World Vision, she came and started a kitchen garden which we assisted in setting up. She planted vegetables and sweet potatoes. She gets money from it - we now get what we need.”
Nine-year-old Peles in Tanzania is another child World Vision has worked with, enjoying the availability of fish as a nutritious food source for her village, which has diversified their nutrition options for children. Before the intervention by World Vision, such food was not available.
Conflict also continues to push communities in East Africa towards hunger, including in Sudan, where the rate of severe hunger is at 38.73%, with over half of the population (52.12%) experiencing moderate hunger. World Vision continues to offer support in Sudan and surrounding countries like Chad, Ethiopia, South Sudan, and Uganda, including vital access to food nutrition services, emergency food supplies, health clinics, education on nutrition, and more.
World Vision has been strengthening community health and nutrition structures in Sudan, including training and enrolling 737 Community Health Workers on childhood illnesses who then reached 11,400 children under-five. In 2024, World Vision also formed 397 Nutrition Mother Care Groups who were able to reach 4,600 pregnant and lactating women, and trained 386 community midwives who supported clean birthing of 3,850 babies during the reporting period.
World Vision’s Child Sponsorship programme is one way to help those continuing to suffer from hunger and malnutrition worldwide, helping them become more resilient for the future. What's more is that, for every child a sponsor supports, the organisation's community-focused solutions benefit four more children in that same community.
ENDS
For more information, case studies, assets, and interviews, please contact
Sam Bishop: sam.bishop@worldvision.org.uk
Spokespeople available for interviews too.
Editors Notes:
At World Vision, our focus is on helping the world’s most vulnerable children overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. For 75 years, we have worked together with communities – of all faiths and none – even in the most dangerous places, inspired by our Christian faith. Thanks to our supporters globally, we work in almost 100 countries and have changed the lives of over 200 million children in the past five years alone.
When you give to World Vision, you know your donations will be well spent, for the greatest impact. We always work alongside communities, with a focus on the most vulnerable children and families helping them overcome poverty and experience fullness of life. So, you know your donations will go to the children in greatest need.
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