The impact of hunger in Africa

Lack of access to nutritious food is truly devastating to children, families, and entire communities. Meet Fatuma, a displaced mother of two who lives in a displacement camp outside of Somalia’s capital city of Mogadishu. Fatuma was forced to leave one of her children behind to escape an abusive marriage. When she regained custody of her daughter, she found that her little girl was suffering from neglect and malnutrition.

Fatuma’s story shows the hardships that women and children face in displacement camps, where poverty and poor hygiene can lead to malnutrition. However, with the right support, there is hope. We have more than 40 years of experience saving lives and supporting self-sufficiency for some of the world’s most vulnerable people. We help communities become more resilient to extreme poverty and hunger and enable families to recover from crisis.

Solutions to hunger and poverty in Africa

Across Africa, Action Against Hunger provides lifesaving treatment to children suffering from the deadliest form of hunger, known as acute malnutrition. We partner with parents and communities to bring treatment to children in need, faster, and we educate and change behaviors to help prevent malnutrition from occurring in the first place.

Our food security and livelihoods programs empower vulnerable communities to improve their access to food, income, and markets. We train and build the capacity of small-scale farmers to implement climate-smart agriculture techniques, increase production, and safely store and market their crops. Our teams help herders to improve the health of their livestock and find pasture lands to feed them. We also help mothers save money and access capital to start businesses.

In humanitarian emergencies, we provide cash transfers or cash-for-work programs to help families in crisis buy food and support local markets while also enabling them to make their own choices about their most urgent needs.