Today, CARE publishes 'Breaking the Silence', our report on the crises which received the least media attention over the course of the year. In 2022, for the first time since we began publishing annually in 2016, all ten of the most under-reported humanitarian crises were in Africa.
Ten humanitarian crises that didn't make headlines in 2022:
Angola – 3.8 million people do not have enough to eat
Malawi – 37 percent of children are malnourished
Central African Republic – 3.1 million people in need of humanitarian aid
Zambia – 50 percent of people live on 1.90 dollars a day
Chad – Second highest maternal mortality rate in the world
Burundi – 50 percent of children under five are malnourished
Zimbabwe – 7 million people need humanitarian aid
Mali – Eighth-highest child mortality rate in the world
Cameroon – 3.9 million people in need
Niger – 4.4 million people are acutely food insecure
Angola – the crisis which received the least media attention – is experiencing its worst drought in forty years. Nearly four million people do not have enough food to eat. Yet last year, there were 50 times more online media articles about the release of the iPhone 14 (95,118 articles) than the humanitarian crisis in Angola (1,847 articles).
In 2021, Ukraine was included on the list of under-reported crises. The Ukraine War was one of the most prominent global news stories in 2022 with over 2 million articles published online. The effects of the war, including extreme levels of food and energy inflation, have been felt across Africa.
All ten countries on the list were also affected by climate-related disasters. Yet, in 2021, UK aid to Africa fell by one third (33.8 per cent) – a cut of £883 million. Hunger, often caused by drought, floods and other climate disasters, disproportionately affects women. Research by CARE has found that 150 million more women than men experienced hunger in 2021. Women like Hawa and Moreladies.
Hawa had to flee Cameroon with her children and nephew and now lives in Chad:
Lack of rain has led to many failed crops and families struggling to feed themselves in the region in Zimbabwe where Moreladies lives with her husband and three children. She says:
How you can help
In 2023, the need for humanitarian aid will once again rise to record levels: around 339 million people are in need of life-saving aid, 65 million more than in the previous year. But the needs of all these people are not consistently in the media spotlight.
In our report we ask representatives from politics, the media, other NGOS and people affected by crises for their views on how we can draw more attention to the situations faced by people in humanitarian crises. You can also be part of the solution – read and share our report, and help make sure the voices and stories of those in need are heard.
