Suffering In Silence: The 10 Most Under-reported Humanitarian Crises of 2019

"In 2019, over 51 million people were suffering from drought, displacement, conflict, epidemics and food insecurity in 10 crises away from the public eye."

This report offers an analysis of the top 10 most underreported humanitarian crises in 2019, highlighting natural disasters and conflicts that have affected a million people or more and yet received the least worldwide media attention. Published yearly by CARE International and now in its fourth year, the report seeks to contribute to a wider discussion between the humanitarian aid sector, media outlets, and policymakers on how to jointly raise awareness and deliver aid to those in need.

"The European Commission defines a forgotten humanitarian crisis as a severe and protracted humanitarian situation where people receive little or no international aid. In addition to this, the media coverage is minimal, and there is little or no political will to end the crisis. Though affecting many, these crises receive little attention from the global community. Consequently, they often develop beyond public perception."

Using the media monitoring services of Meltwater Group, CARE International analysed those humanitarian crises that received the least media attention in 2019. More than 2.4 million online media hits were captured in the time period from January 1 to November 15 2019. To filter according to scale, researchers identified countries in which at least one million people were affected by conflicts or natural disasters. The result was a list of 40 crises that were analysed and ranked by the number of online news articles mentioning each country and respective crisis, from which the 10 in this report were selected. The analysis is drawn from online media coverage in Arabic, English, French, German, and Spanish, and although not universal in scope, the results seek to represent a tendency of global media attention.

The report shows that the top 10 crises affected over 51 million people who are suffering from drought, displacement, conflict, epidemics and food insecurity. Six of the 10 crises had already appeared in the ranking at least twice in the past three years, and nine of the 10 crises take place on the African continent. In many cases, climate change is a key driver of the crisis or is making an existing crisis worse.

For each of the 10 countries listed, the report highlights the reasons behind each crisis, acknowledging that each emergency is unique in its causes, needs, and complexity. It also looks at how the crisis is affecting communities, especially women and children, and includes information on the diverse ways that CARE International is responding to that crisis.

The 10 most underreported crises are as follows, starting with the emergency that received the least amount of media attention at number one:

1. Madagascar - The human-made climate crisis - in the form of drought - impacted over 2.6 million people. Madagascar has the world's fourth highest rate of chronic malnutrition, with one in every two children under five suffering from stunting.
2. Central African Republic - Violent clashes and attacks on civilians have forced one in four citizens here to flee their homes. About 2.6 million people are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
3. Zambia - Due to the effects of climate change, an estimated 2.3 million people in the country are in urgent need of food assistance.
4. Burundi - Instability is fuelling a humanitarian crisis where 1.7 million people are struggling to feed their families. In addition, natural disasters and disease are compounding the already precarious situation.
5. Eritrea – The population suffers from a drought-induced food and water crisis, as well as recurring armed violence and displacement. Fleeing the drought and repression, half of all children under five are stunted as a consequence of malnourishment.
6. Democratic People's Republic (DPR) Korea - An estimated 43% of the population is undernourished as agricultural food production fails to meet their requirements due to the lack of modern equipment, compounded by heatwaves, droughts, and floods.
7. Kenya - Trapped in the middle of floods and droughts, more than 1.1 million people live without regular access to food.
8. Burkina Faso - Around 5.2 million people - more than a quarter of the population - are affected by the protracted political instability and escalation of violence in Central Sahel.
9. Ethiopia - As a result of a vicious cycle of disaster, hunger, and displacement, about 7.9 million people suffer from a serious level of malnutrition, particularly pregnant and lactating women, infants, and the elderly.
10. Lake Chad Basin - Due to armed conflict, displacement, and hunger, nearly 10 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance.

The report concludes with recommendations for governments, policymakers, the media, aid agencies, and businesses on what they can do to shine a light on these most underexposed humanitarian crises and how mobilise to respond to their needs. For example:

• CARE urges government and policymakers to consider reporting as a form of aid. The analysis shows a strong correlation between the amount of media coverage and funding received: three of the 10 most underreported crises in the report also appear in the United Nation's list of most underfunded emergencies in 2019. "With close links between public awareness and funding, it needs to be acknowledged that generating attention is a form of aid in itself. As such, humanitarian funding should include budget lines to raise public awareness, particularly in low-profile countries. This can be used to encourage affected countries to increase their local news coverage, to offer press visits to emergency affected areas, or to provide logistical support and training for journalists."
• Recommendations for the media include the need to improve reporting on the underreported. Media attention on underreported issues helps to move the mainstream narrative from numbers to impact and from outcomes to root causes. Examples of change include: committing to devote a certain percentage of world coverage to humanitarian crises that do not receive sufficient attention; sending one reporter to one forgotten crisis per year; or doing one roundtable event about a forgotten crisis advertised through a media agency's platform.