The latest survey conducted by a dozen UN agencies and non-governmental organizations across seventeen countries has concluded that the situation of hunger is deteriorating in West and Central Africa. Feeding oneself will pose a significant challenge for over 50 million people during the lean season, next summer.
Conducted in coordination with governments and ECOWAS, this survey includes Senegal, Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, as well as Cameroon and Nigeria.
In this vast region, 52 million people will struggle to feed themselves during the lean season, which spans from June to August. This represents an increase of 4 million people compared to the same period last year.
In detail, 12% of the population, or one in ten people, will face difficulties accessing safe and nutritious food in West and Central Africa during this period, according to projections by a dozen organizations including UNICEF and Oxfam.
In Nigeria, food insecurity could affect 16% of the population or 30 million people. In Chad and Sierra Leone, up to 20% of the population could be affected.
In the Menaka region in northern Mali, several thousand people are at risk of suffering from “catastrophic hunger,” according to the survey, which corresponds to the most severe level of food insecurity.
Except in Guinea, Benin, Ghana, and Ivory Coast, food insecurity is expected to worsen in all the countries studied in the coming months.
In five years, the number of people facing food insecurity has quadrupled in West and Central Africa, according to the World Food Programme.
Children under 5 years old are the primary victims. Nearly 17 million of them suffer from acute malnutrition, an unprecedented figure.