On March 15th, the USA-based social media celebrity Jérôme Jarre (Vine, Snapchat), launched a crowdfunding campaign called "Love Army For Somalia" to help victims of famine in Somalia.
This unprecedented appeal to the generosity of Internet users has met an unprecedented success with, to date, 2.5 million dollars raised from anonymous or famous donors. In addition, Turkish Airlines, which serves Mogadishu, has made available a 60-tonne cargo flight to carry the cargo. Humanitarian aid to be distributed locally by the NGO American Refugee Committee.
Edesia, an American nonprofit dedicated to combat malnutrition, joined forces with the operation. A partner of Nutriset as part of the PlumpyField® network, Edesia produces ready-to-use foods that were developed by Nutriset and that are recognized and used by UNICEF, WFP and major humanitarian NGOs for the treatment and prevention of malnutrition worldwide.
"Love Army For Somalia" has ordered 60 tons of products from Edesia (13 MT of Plumpy'Doz™, 45 MT of Plumpy'Sup™ and 1.4 MT of Plumpy'Mum™). These nutritional solutions will be channeled from the Nutriset Group headquarters in France to Mogadishu via Istanbul on 30 March 2017.
The "Love Army For Somalia" campaign illustrates an unprecedented situation in terms of emergency food aid needs. As United Nations experts remind us, 1.4 million children are at risk of death and more than 20 million people are threatened by famines that devastate Northern Nigeria, Southern Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. More broadly, in 2017, humanitarian needs are unprecedented, with 70 million people threatened in 45 countries (40% more than in 2015).
