Mozambique's Women Engaging in Harmful Coping Strategies to Drought

Women and girls in Mozambique are struggling more than ever to cope with the current drought, the worst in 35 years, aggravated by a particularly powerful El Niño phenomenon, according to a new CARE study. Researchers have talked to 75 people in the region of Inhambane to get first-hand impressions of what the situation is like in areas affected by drought and hunger.

Up to 80 percent of the families are forced to reduce their meals to only one or two daily rations. Tens of thousands of children are expected to be acutely malnourished. The situation is particularly hard for teenage girls who lack the experience and knowledge to come up with strategies to protect themselves and their children from hunger.

According to CARE’s assessment, younger girls and adolescents are pulled out of school to help their parents fetch water.

http://reliefweb.int/report/mozambique/hope-dries-women-and-girls-coping-drought-and-climate-change-mozambique

UN Photo/Pernaca Sudhakaran

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