Major Crises in Africa Overlooked

 Henry Srebrnik, [Halifax] Chronicle Herald

For the second year in a row, the humanitarian agency CARE International has reported that all ten of the most under-reported world crises are in Africa.

From conflict in Angola to climate change in Zimbabwe, the publication of “Breaking the Silence 2023” provides evidence that the continent is buried beneath the weight of media attention focused elsewhere, in particular on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.

The report singled out 10 African countries, including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Burundi, Zambia, and Senegal, that are suffering crises such as climate change, conflict, poverty, hunger, violence and political instability but are getting little news coverage. Issues such as hunger in Angola, chronic malnutrition in Burundi and high child mortality in the Central African Republic are disappearing from public view.

In 2024, about 300 million people worldwide will need humanitarian help, CARE International warned, with almost half of them in Africa.

The aid organization commissioned the media monitoring service Meltwater to examine five million online articles in Arabic, German, English, French and Spanish from January1 to September 30 of 2023.

From a list of 48 humanitarian crises affecting more than one million people, the ten crises with the lowest media presence were identified. They were all in Africa.

International media closure of foreign bureaus has been blamed for the underreporting; as well, the fatigue that has set in after decades of unending conflicts and humanitarian crises in some African countries.

Angolans have been struggling with drought for 40 years, there is a lack of clean drinking water, and almost thirty years of civil war from 1975 to 2002 have left a country littered with mines. Although it is rich in oil and diamonds, most of the approximately 37 million Angolans live in poverty.

An armed conflict has been raging in the Central African Republic since 2013, and twenty per cent of the population have been internally displaced or have fled to neighbouring countries. More than three million people have needed humanitarian aid for years.

Hunger is a major concern. In Zambia, 1.35 million people are affected by hunger and in Burundi, almost 5.6 million children are chronically malnourished. Many people in Mauritania and Senegal also suffer from hunger.

Meanwhile, one of the worst food shortages to have hit strife-torn Ethiopia in the past fifty years has forced the authorities in the northern Tigray, Amhara and Afar regions as well as the federal government to sound the alarm. Millions of citizens residing in these regions are facing the prospect of acute hunger and require emergency food assistance. In addition, many have been uprooted from their homes in search of food.

Although the administrations of the three regions, the relevant agencies of the national government, as well as international donors and humanitarian partners, have exerted concerted efforts to support those in need, the response so far has fallen woefully short of what is required.

As well, the UN’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has expressed alarm about cholera in Africa, with the situation in Zambia and Zimbabwe very serious. They are experiencing a rapid rise in the number of cases since the Christmas and New Year holidays, with 1,000 cholera cases reported a week in each. In Zambia, nine out of 10 provinces are reporting cases.

Since 2023, 13 countries in the eastern and southern part of the continent have battled one of the worst cholera outbreaks to hit the region in years, and as of Jan. 15, more than 200,000 cases, including over 3,000 deaths, have been reported.  

The key drivers are long-term poor water sanitation and hygiene conditions, exacerbated by changing weather patterns, climate change leading to floods and droughts, end-of-year festivities, inadequate community sensitization and late care-seeking behaviour for those that are affected.

“Children, unfortunately, carry the lion’s share of the affected,” Dr. Paul Ngwakum, the regional health adviser for UNICEF in East and Southern Africa, said. “For example, over 52 per cent of the cases in Zambia are children less than 15 years old.”

Of the countries he named as having an active outbreak, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Somalia, as well as Zambia and Zimbabwe, are in “acute cholera crisis.”