While wars and conflicts take the stage, a slew of humanitarian pandemics have quietly crept into communities at home and abroad. These BreakingNews stories deserve the world's attention, as millions of vulnerable people are in life-threatening situations without coverage, funding, or help. 

Madagascar, the site of the world's first climate famine, faces a season in which more than one million people teeter on the brink of starvation. With four straight years of unprecedented drought, the region has also lost crops and livestock, forcing families to survive on cactus leaves and roots. While there is no shortage of malnourished children, this crisis has received a fraction of donations compared to better-known crises. Aid agencies are struggling to maintain basic feeding programs as donations dried up and media attention turned to other regions. 

Central African Republic's BreakingNews reports that internally displaced families are now settling in their temporary homes nine years after newly declared conflicts. More than 600,000 people are still living in internally displaced people's camps, and women and children account for approximately 80% of that population. Limited access to clean water and health care has fostered a crisis of disease outbreaks. Cholera infections have risen 300% in recent months. The international response continues to be inadequate to fulfill basic humanitarian standards. 

The Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh isanother neglected crisis. It has implications for nearly a million stateless people. Cox's Bazar camps are severely overcrowded, and during monsoon periods, the impact is alarming as flooding destroys shelters and pollutes water sources with people drinking from the contaminated water that pissed down for three days. Education opportunities for children in refugee camps is limited and the long-lasting effects are dire. Children will grow into adults without prospects for productive lives. Host communities also face diminished resources and environmental damage as a result of being host to such large numbers of refugees. 

Mental health care is another critical gap in some humanitarian contexts. In the case of the Syrian conflict, children who have lived through war have no frame of reference other than the symptoms of extreme anxiety and depression. Expert mental health care is almost nonexistent in nearly all health zones affected by the Syrian crisis. BreakingNews research suggests that unaddressed trauma will have long-term effects on post-war recovery and social cohesion.

Indigenous populations in the Amazon continue to face systematic violence and displacement. Illegal deforestation and mining are widespread, and land speculators are intruding on the remote communities, forcing families to vacate their ancestral properties. Indigenous people hold valuable knowledge regarding sustainable land use and climate adaptation, but rarely make it to the conversation on global environmental interventions. Many communities have lost access to their traditional food and medicinal plants, essential for their continued existence as a culture.

Gender violence has increased exponentially in humanitarian contexts internationally. Institutions benefactors of humanitarian funding are predominantly male, refugee camps often don’t have a lot of light or secure buildings, posing more danger to women and girls. In a BreakingNews investigation, they found evidence of humanitarian response systems being predominantly male, as well as ignoring women’s safety and reproduction issues when responding to crises.

Food insecurity affects over 800 million people globally, yet appropriate universal funding for agriculture programs is overshadowed by the majority funded support for in-kind and cash distribution; funds spent on food that is often wasted. Supporting local communities should not just be about giving them aid and donations, we should learn how to be better community and environmental stewards. Training families in sustainable agricultural practices, providing seeds, and sheltering them from corrupt economic and agricultural systems could help reverse the dependency cycle on humanitarian aid. Local solutions are frequently more effective and culturally appropriate than global issues.

These under-addressed crises require continued engagement from the international community that goes beyond a limited, short-term approach to emergency interventions. Addressing the root causes through development initiatives, conflict prevention and climate resilience has the potential to prevent a future humanitarian emergency from escalating into a catastrophic human rights situation.

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