S.A.M stands for severe acute malnutrition and now threatens the lives of 1.5 million children in East Africa. It blurs your vision. Your skin becomes loose and dry and starts to peel. Your muscles start to break down then waste away... It's a silent and deadly disease. But there is a cure: special milk formula and high-nutrient peanut paste.
The treatment for S.A.M. can be devastatingly simple – like an 8-week course of high-nutrient peanut paste.
We won’t stop there. From climate change to poverty to war, it’s time to tackle the roots of this crisis.
Let’s stop S.A.M. in its tracks. Donate now.
Why is this happening again?
At the heart of this crisis is a lethal combination: poverty, climate change, COVID-19 and war. Now, after the rains failed for the forth time in a row, crops and animals’ grazing land have turned to dust. The impact of COVID-19 has piled on more pressure, hitting the income and savings of families, and disrupting life-saving health services. On top of that, a global shortage of grain as a result of the war in Ukraine has sent food prices in East Africa soaring.
Across Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia, S.A.M. threatens 1.5 million children’s lives.
How your donation can help:
- $20 could provide on going clean water for a family.
- $35 could provide a child with basic healthcare during a humanitarian crisis, including vaccinations and treatment for deadly diseases such as malaria, pneumonia, and diarrhoea.
- $220 could provide a child with severe acute malnutrition with life-saving care at a Save the Children treatment centre.
What we are doing
Right now our teams are getting life-saving treatment to children with S.A.M. as well as long term support to families living on the edge:
Saving children’s lives with emergency nutrition
Giving struggling families cash support
Providing drought-resistant crops
Improving water supplies
