This report is a synthesis from lessons of government experiences of scale up of community-based management of acute malnutrition (CMAM). It is based on nine country case studies (Ethiopia, Pakistan, Niger, Somalia, Kenya, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Mozambique), considerations around scale-up from India, and the proceedings of an international conference in Addis Ababa, 14-17 November, 2011 at which the case studies and India experiences were presented and discussed. The contributions of an additional 12 countries at the conference are also reflected in this report.

Global food prices declined 8% between September and December 2011. Wheat, maize, and rice prices declined due to improved supply conditions, and among concerns regarding the global economy. However, global prices still remain high, with the 2011 annual food price index exceeding the 2010 annual index by 24 percent.

31 January 2012 – The Security Council today called for a coordinated and inclusive approach to ensure a solution to the problems facing the Sahel region, which include an ongoing humanitarian crisis, lack of socio-economic development, insecurity and the threat of terrorism.

In a press statement issued this afternoon, the Council members underlined the need for a solution that encompasses security, development and humanitarian issues.

Facts and Figures (Jan.2012)

• The percentage of people in the Sahel who are severely malnourished ranges from 10.9% in Mali to 20.1% in some parts of Chad (GAM rates). 1.3 million children are currently suffering from acute malnutrition across the Sahel, 400 000 of them are suffering from its most severe form.

• 300,000 children die in a 'normal year' from malnutrition or its related causes. In 2011, 311,000 were treated in humanitarian aid nutrition programmes out of which, 156.000 (50%) were treated in ECHO funded programmes

Octobre 2011 : Afrique Verte, dans le Point situation alimentaire du 15/10/2011, exprime ses premières inquiétudes concernant l’issue de la campagne agricole au Sahel, notamment au Niger. Fin octobre, Afrique Verte engage ses premières actions d’atténuation de la crise (répartition de stocks) avec l’appui financier de la Commission européenne. Au Niger, l’Etat et ses partenaires spécialisés dans la sécurité alimentaire, se mobilisent.

By Bob Coen

GAWOUNAWA, Niger, 27 January 2012 – At the end of the farming season, Halima Isaka sat with her 10-month-old daughter at the edge of their family’s field, watching as her husband loaded a pile of dried millet stalks onto an oxcart.

VIDEO: UNICEF correspondent Bob Coen reports on joint emergency interventions by UNICEF and partners to help protect vulnerable families from the threat of malnutrition in Niger.

Once again, the harvest has been disappointing.

For the third time in a decade, drought has returned to the Sahel region of West Africa bringing hunger to millions of people across the region. WFP is pre-positioning food assistance ahead of the annual lean season when the vulnerable – especially women and children – are most at risk of malnutrition.

NIAMEY—Drought has hit the Sahel region this year just as many families are still in the process of rebuilding their lives, and re-stocking cattle after the last food crisis which struck in 2010.

Lack of rain and encroaching desertification are threatening food supplies in Niger, where extreme poverty and population growth already pose huge challenges. As the threat of a humanitarian disaster prompts calls for increased emergency aid, Niger's people are adopting a range of measures to stave off the crisis

See the slideshow in the Guardian.

This Emergency Appeal seeks CHF 3,756,836 in cash, kind, or services to support the Red Cross Society of Niger (RCSN) to assist 350’000 beneficiaries for 9 months, and will be completed by the end of October, 2012. A Final Report will be made available by January 2013 (three months after the end of the operation).

CHF 126,768 was allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support this operation. Unearmarked funds to replenish DREF are encouraged.