More than 2,500 people to face catastrophic, famine-like conditions if no urgent action is taken, organisation warns
Surveys show alarming levels of wasting in children as well as acute malnutrition in adolescents and women of reproductive age. Photo for representation: iStock A large section of the population in west and central Africa will face severe food insecurity from June to August, which is considered the lean period between harvests, warned International Rescue Committee (IRC), a global humanitarian aid, relief and development nongovernmental organisation.
IRC analysed 17 countries in the region: Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Sierra Leone, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger, Gambia and Cape Verde. The organisation analysed the latest Cadre Harmonise report, which is the unified tool for the consensual analysis of acute food and nutrition insecurity.
The findings showed that in the three months of 2024, an estimated 52 million people will face Phases 3-5 of food insecurity. Phase 3 is serious food insecurity, Phase 4 reflects critical food insecurity and Phase 5 indicates famine.
Food insecurity and related malnutrition has steadily worsened in the region over the last half decade and continues to intensify.
In central Sahel, which consists of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, 7.5 million people are affected, up from 5.4 million last year, the organisation noted.
More than 2,500 people are due to face catastrophic, famine-like conditions if no urgent action is taken, the representatives flagged.
Conflicts and insecurity, as well as prolonged periods of drought and flooding in the last five years have driven the crisis.
Climatic shocks have made matters worse, causing migration both within and beyond the region.
As of March 2024, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad collectively registered over three million internally displaced people, an increase of eight times compared to the preceding five years, IRC pointed out.
Chad, Mali and northern Nigeria are the worst affected, according to the latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) acute malnutrition analyses.
Over two-thirds of the areas analysed by IPC was noted to be in Phase 3 or 4.
Wasting (measured in children under the age of five years) in certain areas of Mali, Burkina Faso and northern Nigeria have reached emergency levels. These include Menaka and Gao in Mali, Sokoto State in northern Nigeria and various localities in Burkina Faso hosting displaced populations.
The nutrition surveys also indicated alarming levels of acute malnutrition in adolescents and women of reproductive age, particularly in humanitarian settings.
In northern Nigeria, the prevalence of acute malnutrition among women aged 15-49 was in the range of 19 per cent to 31 per cent in Sokoto State and 11 per cent to 19 per cent in Zamfara State.
Over 60 per cent of households in the west and central Africa region struggle to afford a healthy and nutritious diet, the findings highlighted.
IRC, in its media statement, called for immediate action to reinforce emergency response capabilities, enabling the rapid delivery of essential food and nutritional assistance to populations, thereby safeguarding lives and mitigating the further increased risk of malnutrition during the lean season.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.