Taiwan Red Cross donates US$1.71 million to East Africa

Taiwan Today
Tuesday, January 10, 2012

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Taiwan has raised US$1.71 million in humanitarian aid for four East African countries devastated by famine, the Red Cross Society of the Republic of China said Jan. 9.

Launched in August 2011, the fundraising drive has received donations from more than 5,300 people, including US$1 million from the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the charity said in a news release.

The initiative was started after the worst drought to strike the Horn of Africa in 60 years began in July 2011, affecting more than 13 million people. Harvests have decreased dramatically and food prices have skyrocketed in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.

“Although famine has long been a severe problem in Africa, the food crisis raised by the drought has put lives there in great peril,” the Red Cross Society said.

According to the charity, the funds will be used in response to acute humanitarian needs in the four countries to provide food, health care, and water sanitation facilities.

US$1.15 million has gone to Kenya, where the prolonged drought has created famine conditions for 3.5 million Kenyans, a situation exacerbated by waves of refugees pouring into the country from neighboring war-torn Somalia.

The society will join the relief program of the International Committee of the Red Cross to set up health centers in refugee camps along the border of Kenya and Somalia. Some 60,000 people, especially children under the age of 5, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers, are expected to benefit from the program.

Of the money allocated to Kenya, US$650,000 will be directed to a food aid initiative supervised by MOFA and the international charity group Feed the Children, the society said.

In Ethiopia, the society plans to build and repair water facilities in the Afar and Oromiya regions, train 100 public health volunteers and deliver water purifiers to 27,000 households.

Moreover, more mobile clinics and water carts will be launched in Somalia to care for those in need.

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