Organization: Action Against Hunger

All Photos Action Against Hunger is an international relief and development organization committed to saving the lives of malnourished children and families while seeking long-term, sustainable solutions to hunger. Action Against Hunger USA is part of the Action Against Hunger International Network. Together, we operate from five headquarters--Paris, Madrid, London, Montreal and New York--and deliver life-saving assistance to some 5 million people in some 40 countries around the world.

Focus Areas:

Children, Disaster Relief, Health, Poverty

Countries Served:

All 37 countries: Afghanistan Armenia Angola Argentina Azerbaijan Burundi Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cote D'Ivoire Colombia Ethiopia Georgia Guinea Guatemala Honduras Haiti Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Kenya Lao People'S Democratic Republic Liberia Mali Myanmar Mongolia Malawi Niger Nicaragua Nepal Philippines Pakistan Palestinian Territory, Occupied Sudan Sierra Leone Somalia Chad Tajikistan Uganda Zimbabwe   Summary by region: Asia Africa Latin America & Caribbean

Description of Services:
Nutrition: Our teams focus on three areas: providing intensive care for malnourished children; monitoring malnutrition levels; and detecting and treating of malnutrition. Food Security: We combine emergency relief with programs that develop dependable sources of food and income. Water and Sanitation: We supply safe drinking water in emergencies; build or restore water distribution networks; provide wells for underground water; protect and develops sanitation programs. Health: We tailor treatment to ensure that malnourished children receive not only the food they need to regain their health, but also medical treatment for diseases associated with malnutrition.
History:
In 1979, a group of French doctors, scientists, journalists and writers created Action Against Hunger with Professor Alfred Kaestler, Nobel Prize recipient for physics, as the first chairman. While hunger had been addressed in general campaigns against poverty and poor public health, Action Against Hunger was established specifically to combat hunger worldwide. Action Against Hunger's first initiatives provided assistance to Afghan refugees in Pakistan, rescued Ugandan populations from famine brought on by civil war and severe drought and helped Cambodian refugees in Thailand. Action Against Hunger expanded to intervene in all of the major humanitarian crises of the 80s and 90s with programs in over 40 countries worldwide.
Accomplishments & Progress:
1995: Action Against Hunger's Scientific Committee helped pioneer the therapeutic milk formula F100 to treat people suffering from severe malnutrition. 1996-7: Action Against Hunger installed 160 hand pumps for 80,000 Sudanese fleeing a brutal civil war in their country. 1999: Action Against Hunger was the first international relief organization to make large-scale food distributions in Chechnya. 2001: With the fall of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, our teams were among the first to return after the fighting ended. 2003: Assistance to over 750,000 beneficiaries in Uganda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo through our nutrition, water and sanitation, health and food self-reliance programs.