Subscribe to our
email updates
The Sahel: A Looming Food Crisis
Contenu
- A malnourished child receives treatment at Action Against Hunger's Feeding Centre in Selibaby, Mauritania
Overview of the crisis
Poor harvests, pasture depletion, shortfalls in food production and rising food prices are threatening to push millions of people across the Sahel into a major food crisis. As communities attempt to recover from the severe drought of 2009-2010, which affected 10 million people, the next hunger season - when household food stocks from the last harvest begin to run out - is set to begin early, pushing more families into hunger and malnutrition.
Child malnutrition rates are currently above the World Health Organisation’s emergency threshold of 15 per cent in several areas of Chad and Mauritania, and are expected to deteriorate during the annual hunger season between April and August 2012. An estimated 1,025,000 children under five in the Sahel are threatened by severe acute malnutrition in 2012.
To find out more about our work in West Africa and to explore videos, image galleries and features, please click here
Why is this happening again?
Multiple and complex factors have contributed to the deteriorating situation in the Sahel:
- Erratic weather patterns have resulted in poor harvests, with 25 per cent less crops than last year. The annual lean season is expected to begin earlier.
- Food shortages have triggered rises in food prices in markets. Corn prices in the Sahel are 60 to 85 per cent higher than average prices over the past five years.
- Almost 20% of the population of the Sahel permanently live on the edge of crisis, and small additional shocks such as poor rains, food shortages or increases in food prices can have dramatic effects.
- Communities are still vulnerable, having not yet had a chance to recover from the food crisis of 2009/10. Trapped in a downward spiral of debt, asset loss and malnutrition, the poorest families lack the means to improve their resilience to these recurring crises.
For an in-depth interview with Vincent Taillandier, Action Against Hunger's desk officer, responsible for overseeing our programmes in the Sahel region, click here
Our Response
Action Against Hunger has developed an effective strategy to respond to the situation and is already implementing programmes in Niger, Mali, Chad, Mauritania and Burkina Faso, including:
- Treatment of acute malnutrition in children under five years old;
- Strengthening health capacities for the treatment of severe acute malnutrition, the most dangerous form of malnutrition;
- Supporting families in accessing foods that are available in the markets but are too expensive to afford, through cash-based interventions to help families purchase food in local markets and cash-for-work programmes that provide families with needed income between harvests;
- Implementing programmes aimed at improving household food security and resilience to climatic shocks for the future;
- Providing veterinary services and organising fodder distributions to prevent people from selling their livestock and to protect their assets.
Please donate now
With your help we can save lives
The looming crisis in West Africa is expected to affect millions of children whose families are struggling to recover from the devastation of the 2009 food crisis in the region. These children are in urgent need of your help.
£36 can provide a full course of treatment to save the life of a malnourished child. (Minimum cost may vary according to product prices)
__________________________
STAY INFORMED
Stay informed about Action Against Hunger's cutting-edge solutions to child hunger.
Menu Pied de page
© Action Against Hunger UK 2008-2012