“We are used to living with hunger, from an early age. But having nothing to feed your child is another thing.” Every week, challenging the typical heat of the dry season, Ima, 20 years old, walks two hours to reach the maternal and child health center in Burat, Kenya, where her severely malnourished child receives treatment. of doctors. Jonathan, just two years old, is one of the young patients in the center run by Cesvi in Isiolo County, in central Kenya.
5.5 million children without food
The country, like the rest of the Horn of Africa, is experiencing one of the worst droughts in decades, after three consecutive seasons of scarce rain. It is estimated that there are 13 million people in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia in conditions of serious food insecurity, 5.5 million children suffering from acute malnutrition. The drought has decimated crops (with losses of 70%) and caused a death of cattle, by the millions, the main source of livelihood for families.
Covid in Africa: “Suspend patents to vaccinate everyone”. CUAMM’s appeal
by don Dante Carraro
The Horn of Africa is an emblematic case where the lethal mix – climate, Covid, conflicts – that is starving the world is concentrated. In fact, drought is only the latest emergency in order of time to hit populations still struggling with the consequences of the floods of 2019, the biblical invasion of locusts of the same year, the armed conflicts (Ethiopia and Somalia), the Covid pandemic -19.
The projects
Maternal and child health programs are not the only ones that the humanitarian organization has deployed in the region. Since 2009 it has been carrying out numerous projects that aim to promote food security, especially for women and vulnerable groups, hygiene and access to drinking water. More recently it has launched programs to respond to the Covid-19 emergency: on the one hand with interventions to stem the spread of the virus (hand washing stations, awareness campaigns and distribution of protective devices) on the other with programs to support (Cash Assistance) designed to mitigate the economic consequences of the pandemic.
Vaccinations
The immunization campaign Covid-19 has in fact drastically reduced the sources of income of the population. In Kenya alone, it is estimated that 2 million people have fallen below the poverty line due to the pandemic. Meanwhile, the immunization campaign is limping, as in the rest of the continent. According to the World Health Organization, just 11% of the population in Africa has received the vaccine.
Corbevax, the Italian researcher: “My patent-free vaccine for the rest of the world”
by Giuliano Aluffi
The liberalization of vaccines On the occasion of the European Union – African Union summit in Brussels, Cesvi reiterates the need to immediately respond to the serious crisis that has hit this area of Sub-Saharan Africa: “It is urgent to adopt a multidimensional approach with interventions at 360 degrees to address endemic problems of this area such as climate change and the resulting famines, hunger and malnutrition, conflicts and Covid. The desirable and necessary liberalization of vaccines alone will not be enough: all several factors that negatively impact these countries must be dealt with in concert to provide an answer that may be able to increase the resilience, empowerment and food security of these communities “, comments the deputy director general of Cesvi Roberto Vignola.