Action Against Hunger’s mission is to save lives by combating hunger, malnutrition, physical suffering and the associated distress that endanger the lives of children, women, and men in emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster.
AAH’s involvement typically begins with emergency relief in response to a crisis, but relief is always reinforced by longer term programs enabling victims to regain their autonomy and the means to live independent of external aid. In carrying out our activities, all members of AAH’s International Network adhere to a charter of principles that forms the foundation of our humanitarian commitment: independence, impartiality, nondiscrimination, free and direct access to victims, professionalism, and transparency.
In the short term, we address hunger and malnutrition by providing food and water in emergency situations. In the long term, we provide training in nutrition, food security, water and sanitation, and health care to ensure self-sufficiency and help to rebuild communities. Action Against Hunger’s Scientific Committee pioneered the therapeutic milk formula (F100) that is now widely used by all relief organizations and has significantly decreased the global mortality rate of severely malnourished children and adults under the age of five from 25% to 5%, enabling them to lead healthy lives.
Action Against Hunger is directly at work in 40 countries on 5 continents with teams of fieldworkers consisting of nearly 400 specialists in the fields of nutrition, agriculture, water and sanitation, and public health. Action Against Hunger relies on the skills of its local teams of 4000 people to develop programs that are well adapted to the needs of its beneficiaries.
Action Against Hunger intervenes in the following situations:
– In emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster that threaten food security
– In situations of social/economic breakdown, linked to internal or external circumstances, which place particular groups of people in an extremely vulnerable position
– In situations where survival depends on humanitarian aid