More than 600 million people in Muslim-majority countries are marking Ramadan this year without a sufficient food supply.
The Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS) is implementing 145 projects in 18 countries under its Ramadan campaign this year, covering education and food among other aid, the Qatari group announced on Sunday.
Funded by donors from Qatar, the projects are expected to benefit 1.6 million people in the targeted countries and will take place until the end of the year, state news agency (QNA) reported, citing QRCS.
The projects cover food, shelter, water and sanitation, livelihood, education, psychological support, health, and medical convoys.
QNA did not identify the countries that will benefit from the projects but reported that the initiative includes those in Doha, where the distribution of meals, social activities and volunteering programmes are already in place.
Other initiatives include the distribution of more than 234,000 meals in different countries under the Ramadan Iftar Project throughout Ramadan. In Qatar, QRCS is distributing 600 meals every day for visitors at Lusail and Katara Culture Village.
QRCS will also launch Zakat-ul-Fitr, Eid Clothing, and food security projects to mark the religious holiday after Ramadan.
This year’s QRCS Ramadan campaign is under the slogan ‘Duty To Give’, promoting the core Muslim values of charity and caring for others during the holy month.
“Being our main seasonal fundraising campaign in Qatar, the Ramadan Campaign helps us implement Shariah-compliant projects/programmes that achieve our humanitarian goals and promote solidarity and fraternity among the rich and the poor during the blessed month of Ramadan,” Faisal Al Emadi, Acting Secretary-General of QRCS, said last month.
Al Emadi also highlighted the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza where the Israel war and complete blockade led to a catastrophe. He noted that QRCS will continue to provide Gaza with aid.
The Gulf state deployed at least 85 aid flights, carrying Arish relief and shelter assistance weighing 2,506 tonnes.
Meanwhile last year, QRCS’ Ramadan campaign implemented projects in Qatar and 40 countries around the world at a value exceeding QAR 118 million.
In 2022, QRCS’ Ramadan campaign saw the implementation of year-long projects worth QAR 70 million. The beneficiaries included people in Jerusalem, Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Lebanon among others.
More than 600 million people in Muslim-majority countries are marking Ramadan this year without a sufficient food supply, with more than 200 million suffering from severe hunger, according to Islamic Relief.
The organisation underlined the situation in Gaza, where the 2.2 million population is suffering from a significant shortage of food and basic resources. Gaza’s local authorities have been recording more cases of death due to malnutrition, especially among newborns, children and the elderly.
In war-hit Sudan, 17.7 million people are facing what Islamic Relief described as “crisis levels of food insecurity.”
“It is heartbreaking that so many people will have so little to eat this Ramadan. As Muslims, fasting during Ramadan allows us to empathise with those for whom going long periods of time without food is not a choice, Affan Cheema, Islamic Relief Worldwide’s Director of International Programmes, said last week.
