Action Against Hunger USA

Ethiopia:in ethiopia - africa's second most populous nation - more than a third of children under the age of five years are stunted, 21 per cent are underweight, and 7 per cent are acutely malnourished. One in four people are food insecure. In 2023, an estimated 28.6 million people in ethiopia needed humanitarian assistance. The country faced simultaneous crises: armed conflicts, disease outbreaks, climate disasters including both drought and flooding, and economic shocks marked by high inflation rates. Limited funding and disruptions in food assistance programs exacerbated already dire needs. Action Against Hunger is a leading humanitarian organization in ethiopia, responding to nutrition emergencies and building multisectoral resilience since 1985. With eight operational bases and 17 sub-bases, the organization operates in six major regions (amhara, oromia, tigray, somali, gambela and benishangul gumuz) and provides services in 52 districts and five refugee camps. In 2023, our programs directly reached 714,774 people through integrated, multisectoral lifesaving and resilience interventions. Our nutrition teams treated 25,274 severely malnourished children across 185 health centers and hospitals, in addition to providing supplementary nutrition to 126,113 moderately malnourished children and 109,546 malnourished pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers.in tigray, Action Against Hunger distributed $7.9 million in emergency cash for food to 246,988 people in conflict- and drought-affected areas, supporting both displaced families and host communities. Through our advocacy efforts, we achieved a major milestone in advancing the nutrition-centric humanitarian, development, and peace triple nexus approach by leading the development and roll-out of new operational guidelines with the federal ministry of health and collaborating partners.

Somalia: conflict and climate shocks continued to affect somalia throughout 2023, resulting in two major humanitarian consequences: forced displacement and acute food and nutrition crises. Oscillating between climatic extremes, the year started in severe drought and closed with extreme flooding. Triggered by the el nio weather pattern, deadly floods impacted more than 2.5 million people and displaced over 1.2 million. Across the country, the global acute malnutrition rate decreased from 15.9 per cent in 2022 to 12.4 per cent in 2023, but pockets of significant Hunger and humanitarian needs remained. In hudur, for example, Action Against Hunger's surveys found that acute malnutrition increased from 23.7 per cent in early 2023 to 26.2 per cent in early 2024. Action Against Hunger worked in 28 districts across somalia delivering health, nutrition, water, sanitation, hygiene, and food security and livelihoods interventions. In 2023, we directly reached 1.3 million people with lifesaving assistance, including 1.2 million reached through health interventions and 722,000 through nutrition services. Our teams also repaired 51 water points and our water, sanitation, and hygiene program benefited 219,000 people. Additionally, we provided food security and livelihoods support to 137,000 people. In 2023, the world bank funded our improving healthcare services in somalia program, enabling Action Against Hunger and our partners to work with the ministry of health to deliver essential health services in south central somalia. We are now the second largest ministry of health partner in somalia, directly supporting service delivery in 112 health units, working with 1,133 health staff and 361 community health workers across the country. Action Against Hunger also led the building resilient communities in somalia consortium, a five-year project that works to ensure that communities in disaster-prone rural somalia have sufficient social, financial, and environmental assets to cope with shocks and stressors and adapt to the effects of climate change.

South sudan:in south sudan, an estimated nine million people, including refugees and returnees from sudan, will experience critical humanitarian needs in 2024. An estimated 7.1 million people will require food assistance, with children at critical risk of malnutrition. An estimated 1.6 million young children are at risk of acute malnutrition. The conflict in sudan has resulted in the arrival of vulnerable people who require assistance, driving up market costs and further stretching coping capacities. Women and girls remain at risk of gender-based violence. People across south sudan suffer violence, displacement, and high levels of poverty, along with lack of livelihoods, and limited access to basic services. To compound the situation, south sudan has been hit hard by climate crises, with parts of the country experiencing prolonged dry spells and others experiencing flooding.in 2023, Action Against Hunger strengthened our approach to reinforce connections between our humanitarian, development, and peace-building interventions. We strengthened our research and monitoring systems and practices to enhance knowledge and evidence generation. Our teams worked with lawmakers, youth champions, ministries, national and state authorities, and grassroots leaders to advocate for policy change and address Hunger and climate change. In 2023, our programs directly reached 1,437,365 people through integrated, multisectoral lifesaving and resilience interventions. Our nutrition teams treated 259,998 severely malnourished children across 578 health centers and hospitals, in addition to providing supplementary nutrition to 525840 moderately malnourished children and 603,414 malnourished pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Wash service benefited 7550 community members and 284,415 from fsl service. Action Against Hunger's nutrition teams conducted 10 surveys to deepen understanding of the Hunger situation in south sudan. We also scaled up our work with care groups to improve child nutrition and health, which included working with men to increase their involvement in childcare. Our teams integrated primary health care services within nutrition through our mobile health teams. We worked to improve water, sanitation, and hygiene services and infrastructure management. To address climate-driven Hunger, we scaled up programs such as our rice growing project in fangak, to enhance community resilience. Additionally, our team completed gender-based violence risk mitigation research and conducted two gender analyses. These studies will help to design and deliver safe programs across all sectors.our program has also focused on the intersection of gender-based violence and Hunger. For example, after conducting risk mitigation research, we have recruited additional female staff at nutrition sites so that women feel comfortable coming in for malnutrition treatment. We've also piloted referral services for women suffering from gender-based violence, offering psychological and medical first aid. The women are also eligible for cash and food assistance for their families during medical or psychological treatment since women are also responsible for feeding other members of their households.

Haiti:since march 2023, haiti has witnessed a notable surge in violence and organized crime, particularly in the port-au-prince region, where criminal groups engage in murders, kidnappings, and sexual assaults. The humanitarian situation in haiti is deteriorating, with aid organizations struggling to match the escalating needs. Half of haiti's population is reported to need humanitarian assistance, with 45 per cent living in areas facing severe food crises, a situation exacerbated by economic paralysis due to violence. A quarter of children are suffering chronic malnutrition. Action Against Hunger's program focuses on the most vulnerable and hard-to-reach populations and aims to help families and communities cope with successive shocks, including gang violence, natural disasters, and climate change. Our team addressed malnutrition and its root causes through food distribution to disadvantaged families, screenings and treatment for malnourished children, psychological support for traumatized people and survivors of sexual violence, and income-generating activities. We also collaborated with local authorities to strengthen health systems and build community-level resilience. In response to cholera outbreaks, our rapid response teams installed water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, and enhanced community-level reporting systems.

Kenya:kenya faces recurring challenges including droughts, floods, and disease outbreaks, worsening the country's humanitarian crisis, particularly in the arid and semi-arid regions. In late 2023, el nio floods caused flooding and displacement, impacting nearly 500,000 people. An estimated 2.8 million people in kenya face crisis (or worse) levels of Hunger. Stunting and wasting rates are high, and micronutrient deficiencies are particularly prevalent among children, pregnant women, and breastfeeding mothers. Poor nutrition is compounded by factors such as inadequate healthcare access, regressive cultural practices, gender disparities, conflicts, poor infrastructure, and limited access to clean water, sanitation, and hygiene.in 2023, our programs directly reached 198,1791 people through integrated, multisectoral lifesaving and resilience interventions. Our nutrition teams treated 58,980 severely malnourished children, in addition to providing supplementary nutrition to 70,559 moderately malnourished children and 55,271 malnourished pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Wash services benefited 180,544 community members and 44,279 from fsl service.action Against Hunger operated in 14 counties prone to climate-induced disasters and where households were vulnerable to economic and other shocks, providing direct services, delivering vital supplies, and responding to emergencies, particularly floods and droughts. We supported health centers in order to increase access to primary health care and nutrition services, and trained and built capacity among community health workers, health staff, and volunteers. Our teams improved access to clean water by providing water treatment and rehabilitating water systems, and promoted healthy hygiene practices through household visits, community forums, and in health facilities. To reduce food insecurity, we promoted livestock and climate-smart farming initiatives, resulting in increased adoption of innovative technologies, diversified food production, and improved harvests and access to food. We prioritized gender interventions and integrated gender equality and protection across all projects. Our teams also conducted research to better anticipate and predict acute malnutrition. We also significantly advanced our partnership efforts to synergize programming and mobilize resources. To deepen collaborations with governments, we signed memorandums of understanding with mandera, west pokot, and isiolo counties to facilitate joint efforts, establish communication channels for information exchange, and enable technical, financial, and institutional collaboration to end Hunger.

Tanzania:in tanzania, agriculture is the nation's economic backbone, employing 70 per cent of the population in around eight million households, most in rural areas. An estimated 27 per cent of tanzania's population lives below the poverty line, and 8 per cent live in extreme poverty.according to the 2023 global Hunger index, Hunger levels in tanzania are serious, though there have been improvements in the last 20 years. An estimated 20 per cent of families are unable to afford enough food, and 59 per cent cannot afford a nutritious diet. About 30 per cent of children in tanzania are stunted, and 3.3 per cent are acutely malnourished. In 2023, Action Against Hunger's water, sanitation, and hygiene interventions helped to bring about significant improvement in school hygiene for students in the mpwapwa district. We constructed improved toilets and trained pupils and teachers on how to make sanitary pads skills that have since been passed on to other children. In 2023, our program directly reached 23,465 people through integrated, multisectoral lifesaving and resilience interventions. Our nutrition teams treated 23 severely malnourished children across 30 health centers and hospitals, in addition to providing supplementary nutrition to 58 moderately malnourished children and many malnourished pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Wash service benefited 690 community members and 3,948 from fsl service. We educated people on healthy nutrition, screened children for malnutrition, and provided nutrition and health education and counselling in singida and dodoma regions. Through our therapeutic feeding units in iramba and mpwapwa, more than 200 children with severe acute malnutrition were successfully treated. We also trained more than 500 community health workers across singida and dodoma to provide health and nutrition services to their communities. Action Against Hunger continued to partner with global affairs of canada to implement the gender equitable nutrition project to improve nutrition for the poorest and most marginalized people, focusing on women, adolescent girls, and children. We also partnered with buddhist global relief to promote community-based responses to food and nutrition needs and with the eleanor crook foundation to accelerate national responses to wasting.

Uganda:uganda is home to 1.6 million refugees and asylum-seekers - africa's largest such population. But it is also the third most nutritionally vulnerable region in east africa, with a global acute malnutrition rate of 20.2 per cent and significantly high anemia rates. Children under five are particularly vulnerable. Acute food insecurity is also a pressing concern, impacting 5.4 million people. This year Action Against Hunger continued to provide lifesaving interventions to strengthen nutrition, food security, livelihoods, resilience, and water, sanitation, and hygiene in several refugee-hosting districts. We tackled malnutrition through comprehensive programs, offering treatment for moderate and severe acute malnutrition and promoting breastfeeding and proper child feeding practices. Our teams also trained health staff and parents to detect and prevent malnutrition. In 2023, we supplied 58 health facilities with nutrition staff, essential medicines, and supplies to identify and treat malnutrition. In 2023, our programs directly reached 376,306 people through integrated, multisectoral lifesaving and resilience interventions. Our nutrition teams supported in 43 health facilities, in addition to providing supplementary nutrition to 1,006 moderately malnourished children and 1972 malnourished pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers. Wash services benefited 6,452 community members and 16,957 from fsl service. We also worked with communities to increase their self-reliance and build resilience to future shocks, scale up modern agricultural practices and systems to mitigate climate change, and to improve food production through innovative technologies, climate-smart agroecological approaches, and support for farmers. We also built capacity, helped people build their skills in farming and other income-generating activities, developed value chains, and strengthened markets for high-value crops. Action Against Hunger also established and supported village savings and loans programs and established solar irrigation systems to benefit 65,000 families. In addition, we promoted irrigation and innovative handwashing solutions, constructed latrines to reduce open defecation, and provided sanitation and hygiene kits. And our advocacy team worked to influence the development of policies on nutrition, water and sanitation, and food security and livelihoods to reduce Hunger and vulnerability for refugees and ugandans.

Zambia:in 2023, zambia faced a complex humanitarian situation marked by challenges such as malnutrition, food insecurity, and inadequate access to water, sanitation, and hygiene services. Climate change has caused the country to experience more extreme weather events including intense rainfall, floods, and droughts, coupled with elevated temperatures, which have major impacts on agriculture, water resources, human health, biodiversity, energy, and infrastructure. Two million people in zambia are expected to face crisis or worse levels of Hunger in 2024. Food insecurity is primarily driven by high poverty rates, economic instability, and shocks and hazards such as prolonged dry spells, pests, and diseases. Amidst these challenges, Action Against Hunger successfully launched new programs in 2023 to address the root causes of poverty, Hunger, and biodiversity loss. Our multifaceted approach reflects our commitment to sustainable impact and collaboration with local partners, including the ministry of agriculture and zambia-based ngos. In 2023, we supported local organizations to build their capacity to better manage water sources and irrigations systems and prepare for disasters. We also worked to help farmers implement climate-smart strategies to improve the moisture and fertility of soil, leading to better harvests despite repeated droughts.in the western province, Action Against Hunger is building a climate-smart network that will help farmers grow drought-resistant crops like cowpeas (also known as black-eyed peas). In 2023, we partnered with the university of zambia and the zambia agricultural research institute to understand the cowpea value chain, the nutritional composition of cowpeas, nitrogen rates in soil, and microbial biomass calculations. A nutrient-dense legume, cowpeas are full of essential vitamins such as iron and potassium, and they provide numerous health benefits such as reducing the risk of heart disease. Last year, we discussed peer-based women's support groups as a safe space for women to discuss gender inequity at home and gender-based violence. In zambia, and many parts of the world, women typically eat last and least, and many experience violence or abuse at home. Zambia has some of the highest levels of gender-based violence reported in the world, with over 42 per cent experiencing physical or sexual violence from their partner in their life, and over 25 per cent experiencing the same in the last year alone.

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Other country and strategic programs