Baby being carried on mothers back with RUTF

Burkina Faso

Poverty, conflict and climate change are some of the factors increasing the humanitarian needs in the country.

Burkina Faso and the wider Sahel region in West Africa is in the middle of a crisis.

Since 2019, the country has faced an unprecedented increase in humanitarian needs. Large numbers of people in Burkina Faso are displaced often due to a complex collision of poverty, conflict and climate change. Limited access to basic social services is making the crisis even worse.

The nutritional situation is worrying, particularly in the eastern Burkina Faso where life-threatening hunger is highly common, especially among children between the ages of six to 59 months.

The country is also prone to frequent natural disasters such as drought with dramatic consequences for communities. Farmers and their livelihoods are under severe threat.

Country facts

  • 19.8m

    Burkina Faso has a population of almost 20 million people.

  • 182

    Burkina Faso ranks 182nd out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index.

  • 1,786,629

    In June-August 2020, almost 1.8 million people didn’t have enough food.

Action Against Hunger’s work in Burkina Faso

We’re carrying out health and nutrition activities as part of the PADI project in the Hauts Bassins region.

As part of this, our advocacy work is helping us to encourage civil society to teach communities about the importance of healthy diets.

Through this programme, we have also:

  • initiated emergency projects to provide crisis shelter to displaced people
  • focused on water, sanitation and hygiene
  • provided mental health support and protection to displaced people and host populations.

The programme has also ensured a stronger emergency preparedness and response plan for crises and natural disasters, put into operation in 2020.

Our reach

  • 645,540

    We reached more than 645,540 people in Burkina Faso through our programmes in 2019.

  • 118

    We have 118 staff based in Ouagadougou, Orodara, Fada, Diapaga, Ouahigouya, Kaya.

  • 2008

    We started working in Burkina Faso in 2008.

Our response to the Covid-19 pandemic in Burkina Faso

We’re supplying essential PPE kits and installing water tanks in ten health centres and in public spaces. We want to ensure employees and partners are protected, and are providing handwashing devices, masks, and sanitising gel, as well as performing regular temperature checks to keep them safe. In addition, we’re building health worker knowledge about Covid-19 and the control and prevention of infection. We’re facilitating remote working, and engaging our teams in remote meetings on nutrition, food security, and water, sanitation and hygiene measures. We also continue to support vulnerable communities, by providing households with hygiene kits.

Mother looking at her baby as he holds RUTF

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