With seven million people across five West African countries facing the spectre of famine within months, Christian Aid is stepping up its early response plans to assist those living in the stricken Sahel region.
Niger, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania all suffer from chronic malnutrition crises but the prospect of a full-blown emergency has prompted the governments of all five countries to declare states of emergency and call for international assistance.
‘The Sahel is once again facing a humanitarian crisis and, unusually this time, several governments in the region have called for international assistance and are developing emergency response plans. Now the responsibility is on the international community to scale up fast enough to avoid major suffering since these governments cannot tackle this on their own,” says Cristina Ruiz, Christian Aid’s Africa humanitarian programmes manager.
As a result of failed rains and wide-spread drought, Mali lost 11.8% of total cereal output between 2010 – 2011, while in Burkina it is estimated that 41.47% of the country will face severe food insecurity, and in Niger the government believe that more than half of the nation’s villages are now running out of basic food.
‘Our emergency task forces are already reporting significantly worsening hunger levels throughout the Sahel, and we are ready to scale up our early interventions in Mali and Burkina Faso, including ensuring access to cereals, cash transfers, nutrition support, providing animal fodder and destocking, and reinforcing livelihoods and resilience.”
Christian Aid is working with other agencies through the Sahel Working Group (SWG). The SWG report, Escaping the Hunger Cycle: Pathways to Resilience in the Sahel, was launched late last year. http://bit.ly/mUCYty
Meanwhile, Christian Aid partner organisations in the Philippines continue to respond to the devastation caused by Typhoon Washi, which battered the south of the country over 16-18 December last year.