The leading charity Turkish Red Crescent (Kızılay) on Friday announced a new campaign for the South of Africa, which is facing a severe food shortage and drought. The campaign under the motto “Extend your hand so that humanity will not die” is asking for donations to help Madagascar, Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Namibia, Botswana and Zambia.
The charity said in a statement on Friday that the drought, which began in 2018, and subsequent food shortages have reached serious levels, according to data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). About 100 million people, including 11 million in Angola, 3 million in Madagascar, 2.4 million in Zimbabwe and 3.3 million people in Malawi are affected by the situation.
“It is of the utmost importance to send emergency supplies of basic food, clean water and health care equipment to the region. The large-scale humanitarian crisis displaced 10.8 million people and 20 million people have no access to clean water and sanitation. 26.9 million people are deprived of care services and 14 million children have no access to education, the charity says.
The Turkish charity noted that the UN, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the World Bank worked to overcome the situation described as the “most serious crisis of the last four decades” for the region.
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