CARE report: Barbie instead of Burkina Faso – Africa’s forgotten crises

The war in Ukraine and the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey dominated foreign reporting in 2023. Many major trouble spots, especially in Africa, have practically disappeared from the radar.

Barbie instead of Burkina Faso, Apple instead of Angola, Prince Harry instead of Zimbabwe. The aid organization CARE evaluated five million online press reports from the first nine months of last year – and discovered what they saw as a dramatic imbalance. For example, 270,000 reports were dedicated to the new iPhone or the Barbie film, and 215,000 to the biography of the British prince.

However, many major trouble spots, especially in Africa, have practically disappeared from the radar. A total of just 77,000 articles dealt with humanitarian disasters in ten African countries, for example in Angola, the Central African Republic and Uganda.

Africa still a blind spot

There are many explanations for this. For example, that in difficult times like these, people are more likely to crave good news. Or that some of the “forgotten crises” have been simmering for a very long time and therefore lack novelty value.

Andrea Barschdorf-Hager, the CARE managing director in Austria, says: “As human beings, we always focus on what’s new, that’s completely normal. But that doesn’t mean that the other crises no longer exist and you just deal with them can forget.”

New wars and Natural disasters dominated

Deepmala Mahla, the CARE director for humanitarian aid, is also not surprised that old conflict hotspots receive little media attention and that the African continent in particular remains a blind spot in public perception. After all, new wars and current natural disasters dominated reporting from abroad this time too.

“We have experienced an unprecedented series of humanitarian crises this year. Earthquakes in Nepal, Syria or Turkey, for example, or devastating floods in Libya, Somalia, Afghanistan and elsewhere,” she lists.

But cost pressure and difficult working conditions for journalists also mean that there is hardly any reporting from some crisis countries.

“More attention brings more resources”

According to CARE International, a lot of humanitarian aid is needed around the world right now. This is also due to the fact that 114 million people were expelled from their homes last year – more than ever before. But if there is little or no reporting on this anymore, then this has tangible consequences for the aid organizations.

“More public attention does not always, but often, bring more financial resources,” says managing director Barschdorf-Hager. This is one of the reasons why the aid organization wants to bring the forgotten conflicts back to mind. Or as the annual report puts it: “Breaking the silence.”