SUMMARY

1. In 2011, sporadic rainfall, insufficient local harvests, high food prices and the consequences of the crises across the region had a serious impact on already vulnerable communities in the Sahel. Given the combined effects of these factors, it is estimated that more than 10 million people are food insecure and over 1 million children are at risk of severe acute malnutrition.

2. The increase in the frequency and severity of food and nutrition crises over the past few years has eroded the resilience of people, undermining their capacity to respond to recurrent crises in the Sahel. Households have been unable to restore their livelihoods before the next shock. Children in the Sahel region suffer from a high rate of malnutrition, not only at the peak of the lean season, but also in post-harvest periods. It is estimated that about 226,000 children die of malnutrition and health related consequences each year in the eight countries of the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Chad, northern Nigeria and northern Cameroon). Moreover, the vulnerability of households is compounded by external factors, including the loss of remittances and return of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Libya or Ivory Coast — countries that both faced a crisis in 2011.