Did you know that in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 5000 people are fleeing their homes every day as communal violence worsens?
Or that armed groups have seized control of 70 per cent of the Central African Republic and attacks against women and children are escalating?
![Congolese protest against President Joseph Kabila's refusal to step down from power in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20180223121427im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/b/v/k/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.h0lm4k.png/1516702024044.jpg)
Did you know that in Eritrea nearly half of all children are being left stunted by malnutrition as their parents battle drought and disease? Or that in Burundi, political instability has fuelled violence and food shortages that have left 2.6 million people unable to properly feed themselves, while also grappling with a deadly malaria epidemic? Or that the crisis in Sudan is grinding on, with 2.3 million people now internally displaced?
You probably didn't but you're not alone. These are all among the top 10 humanitarian crises that the world forgot in 2017.
![Children from Eritrea rest on board the Spanish NGO Proactiva Open Arms rescue ship as the vessel heads to the Italian ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20180223121427im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/l/y/z/x/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.h0lm4k.png/1516702024044.jpg)
Aid organisation CARE International has teamed up with global media monitoring organisation Meltwater Group to track all the global disasters – natural and man-made – that received the least media and therefore public attention last year.
Unsurprisingly, African nations account for seven of the top 10 spots in CARE's subsequent "Suffering in Silence" report, released globally on Monday, with crises in Mali and the countries in the Lake Chad Basin also listed.
But the top spot actually went to North Korea, where a staggering 18 million people – 70 per cent of the population – are living in a state of chronic food shortage.
While North Korea is in the news just about every day for its nuclear brinkmanship, the humanitarian dimension is rarely mentioned. CARE identified just 51 mentions of the humanitarian situation across the global media in 2017.
![French soldiers from Operation Barkhane, France's largest overseas military operation, prepare before the visit of ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20180223121427im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/l/z/b/a/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.h0lm4k.png/1516702024044.jpg)
Flooding in Peru that washed away 200,000 homes and caused $3 billion worth of damage, and Typhoon Doksuri, which destroyed vast tracts of Vietnam in September, also made the list. All of the crises affected more than 1 million people.
"We know that a single photo can shake the world's consciousness and galvanise the global community into taking action," said Rachel Routley from CARE Australia's Emergency Response Unit.
![In this photo released by the World Food Program a North Korean child peers through a window at a creche in Hyangsan.](http://web.archive.org./web/20180223121427im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/h/0/l/z/6/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.h0lm4k.png/1516702024044.jpg)
"But the majority of people affected by humanitarian disasters suffer in silence, far away from the world's cameras and microphones. These crises might not make media headlines but that doesn't mean we can forget about them."
The news media is facing dwindling resources, with fewer journalists to cover disasters – particularly those that are remote or hard to access. It is also grappling with "dizzying array of disasters, wars and other crises", leaving it hard to focus on those that are more protracted. And compassion fatigue means many news consumers aren't interested.
But when crises are under-reported, they are also left underfunded: six of the 10 appear in the UN's list most underfunded emergencies.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the gap between humanitarian needs and available funding is not narrowing. The UN estimates $22.5 billion will be required to help 91 million people in urgent need of humanitarian aid in 2018.
"The outlook for 2018 is grim, as the political will to resolve conflicts and address the root causes that are driving them – poor governance, growing impoverishment, inequality and climate change – is weak," Mr Grandi said.
The research drew from more than 1.2 million global online sources in English, French and German. Seven countries that made the list in 2016 remained there in 2017.
Top 10 most under-reported crises in 2017:
- North Korea: Food shortages and oppression
- Eritrea: Drought and repression
- Burundi: Persecution and violence
- Sudan: War and food shortages
- Democratic Republic of the Congo: Conflict and displacement
- Mali: Violence and malnutrition
- Vietnam: Typhoon Doksuri
- Lake Chad Basin (Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria): Conflict, hunger and displacement
- Central African Republic: Violence, displacement and food shortages
- Peru: Floods
Source: CARE International/Meltwater Group
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