Food crisis worsens in West Africa

09/02/2012

The Sahel region of West Africa will likely experience a food crisis in 2012 if action is not taken to support local communities touched by this crisis. Latest assessments show that Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Chad and certain areas of Senegal are most affected by a widespread drought in the region that began in 2011. Malnutrition rates in some areas have increased to alarming levels, and up to 10 million people are estimated to be vulnerable to acute food insecurity.  Action is needed now to prevent the situation from worsening and to avoid widespread famine.

West Africa Food Crisis

HUMANITARIAN COALITION member agencies, CARE Canada, Oxfam Canada, Oxfam-Québec, Plan Canada and Save the Children Canada, are all carefully monitoring the situation and are already initiating appropriate humanitarian relief activities. All member agencies have experience responding to food crises in the region, and have worked for many years to strengthen the resilience of communities by tackling the structural causes of vulnerability with disaster risk reduction programmes, adaption to climate change and programmes that strengthen livelihoods and provide social safety nets. The HUMANITARIAN COALITION members are active in all of the most affected countries in the region and are adapting or scaling-up existing programmes in response to the coming crisis.  Many new programmes are also being launched, focussed on food security, nutrition, livelihoods and access to safe water and health services.  


To find out more about what the members of the HUMANITARIAN COALITION are doing to respond to the situation, or to make a donation to support their efforts, please visit their websites at the links below:

 

To stay informed of the situation, visit our member’s website regularly by following the links above and follow us on twitter at @humcoalition.


Click here to read a recent update on the food crisis in West Africa from ReliefWeb