Food Crisis in Sahel

In reaction to FAO’s new “State of Food Insecurity and Nutrition in the World 2022” report, stating that as many as 828 million people were hungry in 2021, an increase of 150 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hanna Saarinen, Oxfam Food Policy Lead said: “It is deeply concerning that global hunger has been spiralling since 2019 and is now at such devastating levels around the world. This is happening not because of a shortage of food but rather as a consequence of a broken food system further undermined by conflicts, the effects of the COVID pandemic and worsening climate change. 

In reaction to the postponement of the Sahel donor conference, which was due to take place on 18 June, Oxfam together with Action Against Hunger, CARE International, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), and Save the Children, warned of a "hunger pandemic" in the Sahel on top of multiple crises, particularly as a result of COVID-19, conflict and the onset of the lean season.  24 million people (included children) are already in need of urgent humanitarian assistance.

In response to the latest figures shared in OCHA's Burkina Faso Humanitarian Response Plan, Oxfam warns of the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian crisis and calls upon the international community to immediately mobilize funding to meet the urgently needed humanitarian support.  More than 1.9 million people in Burkina Faso are in dire need of water, sanitation and hygiene support. 

As the G5 leaders meet at the Sahel Summit in France on 13 January 2020 to discuss their military response to the Sahel conflict, Oxfam and partners warn of insufficient humanitarian aid and protection of civilians.

On the proposed ECOWAS force to Mali:

Mamadou Biteye Oxfam’s West Africa Regional Director said :

Oxfam warned that devastating floods in Niger are affecting more than 500,000 people, most of whose basic needs are not being met.

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal today launched a personal appeal to raise $5,000 for communities facing a food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa.

The people of Africa’s Sahel region are facing an increasing risk of widespread food crisis, following a series of crises over recent years which has slashed incomes, undermined livelihoods