Between 1983 and 1985, the reaper of death descended upon Ethiopia, in the ghastly guise of a famine that claimed 1.2 million lives. In Europe, the all-star super group Band Aid famously sang Do They Know It's Christmas? (1984), which led to worldwide publicity and relief efforts for Ethiopia.

These included Live Aid - the world's first global concert - which raised US$140 million and was watched by 1.9 billion people across 150 nations. In 2014, Do They Know It's Christmas? was re-recorded to raise funds for the Ebola crisis in West Africa.