Urgent action needed to fight Sahel food crisis by OCHA, Oxfam, Save the Children & agencies 8:57am 11th Apr, 2012   19 June 2012    The United Nations and humanitarian partners today launched new and updated humanitarian appeals for the crisis-stricken Sahel region of West Africa. The combined request for the region now amounts to US$1.6 billion for food, nutrition, health services, sanitation and other urgent assistance to 18.7 million people.    Three new appeals were launched for Burkina Faso, Mali and Mauritania, while two existing appeals for Chad and Niger have been revised. Life-saving and life-sustaining humanitarian aid is also required in Cameroon, Gambia, Nigeria and Senegal.    "It is crucial that momentum be maintained in the months to come, not only to address critical needs but also to prepare for rebuilding lives and livelihoods of people affected by the crisis," said David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, at the appeal launch in Geneva.    The humanitarian situation in the Sahel region has deteriorated dramatically through 2012 due to a lethal combination of drought and sporadic rains, poor harvest, rising food prices, displacement and insecurity. Cereal production in the region has dwindled 27 per cent compared to last year and food prices have soared. In Mali, the price of the staple food, millet, has increased 116 per cent compared to the 5-year average.    In Niger, the number of food-insecure people has gone up by 18.5 per cent between January and April to reach 6.4 million people. During the same period, the number of affected people has shot up by 125 per cent to reach 3.6 million in Chad.    As a result, more than 1 million children under five are at risk of dying from severe acute malnutrition and require immediate relief. An additional 3 million children are at risk of moderate acute malnutrition.    Humanitarian organizations have supported governments in the region to respond to the crisis by deploying staff and scaling up programmes. So far, donors have generously provided 43 per cent of the funding required; however, the concern remains that if assistance is not sustained, the transition from acute emergency to recovery may fail.    May 2012    Niger malnutrition crisis. (Save the Children)    Months of warnings have failed to prevent a serious malnutrition crisis in Niger, says Save the Children. More than six million people are affected there, and about 18 million across West Africa.    Alarm bells have been ringing about Niger - with its record of severe food crises - since late last year after erratic rainfall threatened crop shortages and food prices also soared.    May 02, 2012    As famine spreads across Africa"s Sahel region, aid agencies are warning they are now facing a multi-million-dollar shortfall in dealing with the crisis.    A lethal mix of sporadic rains, soaring food prices and chronic deepening poverty has left more than 15 million people short of food in the drought-ridden region.    Aid agencies say malnourished children are turning up at feeding stations and health clinics, and a full scale humanitarian emergency is just around the corner.    Save the Children"s Madhuri Dass said "there is no access to food at the moment and harvests are not going to come through until October, so that is a long number of months and the crisis is just going to come more and more acute if we don"t do something about it now," she said.    Frustrated by a slow response to their appeal for funds, aid agencies have called for a donor-pledging conference to rally wealthy governments and donors.    The World Food Program is pre-positioning first-priority food for the most vulnerable - special peanut-based paste to try to stop children dying from hunger.    West Africa is an incredibly fragile region. People have long lived with drought, but in the poorest geographical region on the earth, and probably one of the most neglected.    April 2012    Urgent action needed to address ‘cascading crisis’ in Africa’s Sahel region.    Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called on the global community to act quickly to address what he described as a “cascading crisis” sweeping the Sahel region of West Africa, where some 15 million people have been affected by the drought and crisis in the area.    “I call upon the world to respond. Simply put, we must do more – and do it quickly,” Mr. Ban said. “Across the region, we see rising food and fuel prices and severe drought.    “The statistics are sobering: 15 million people are directly affected. More than 200,000 children died of malnutrition last year – and another one million are threatened right now,” he added.    According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the food and nutrition crisis facing countries in West Africa’s drought-prone Sahel region has continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate this year. The worsening food shortages and malnutrition have been compounded by insecurity.    Mr. Ban noted at the international response plans across the region are less than 40 per cent funded. “And the crisis has yet to peak.”    * See OCHA: http://www.unocha.org/crisis/sahel    Apr 2012    Drought, underinvestment put 15 million people at-risk.    The United States must speed-up delivery of life-saving aid to address the looming hunger crisis in the Sahel, ensure assistance is directed effectively to those who most need it and work in coordination with other actors to resolve the political crisis in Mali and keep humanitarian relief flowing, said international relief and development organization Oxfam America.    A new report from Oxfam shows that more than 15 million people in seven African countries are threatened by a food crisis, which requires urgent assistance. Previous crises in the region have seen slow response to early warning alarms and delayed aid deliveries by months, which can mean life or death for many facing immediate needs.    “The US needs to step up to the plate and work with governments and local organizations to make sure that the people of the Sahel are getting the most timely and effective help possible,” said Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Pledges alone do not save lives. Action does.”    Representatives from Oxfam and partner organizations are on a global tour to capitals around the world to urge attention and action for the crisis in the Sahel.    “We are already witnessing distressing signs of a food crisis,” said Mahomdou Issoufou, Executive Director of the Federation of Unions of Farmers Groups in Niger.    “People are resorting to extreme coping strategies including searching for grain in the earth that ants may have stored. We are happy that the US has pledged to help. But we are here to make sure that aid gets to those who need it most, especially women and young children and those affected by conflict.”    By investing now in earlier and more cost-effective actions, the United States can ensure vulnerable populations are protected at a much lower cost than if action is delayed until the crisis is at its peak.    The current situation in the Sahel is the cumulative result of short and long-term factors. Cycles of drought combined with low levels of agricultural investment, environmental degradation, high population growth and acute levels of poverty have contributed to structural chronic vulnerability where even moderate external shocks can have major impacts. Visit the related web page
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