KEY DEVELOPMENTS

• Following the deployment of a humanitarian assessment team to the Sahel in mid-April, USAID’s Office of U.S.Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) is addressing additional humanitarian needs identified by the team with programs in sectors including nutrition, economic recovery, and agriculture and food security. In addition,
  USAID/OFDA is addressing conflict-related emergency needs in Mali and host community needs in countries receiving Malian refugees.

• Drought and inconsistent rainfall has led to decreased agricultural production in Cameroon, with a current estimated cereal shortfall of nearly 50,000 metric tons (MT), according to the U.N. World Food Program (WFP). Food shortages are particularly severe in Cameroon’s North and Far North regions, where the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children under five years of age exceeds the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) critical threshold level of 10 percent. On June 7, U.S. Ambassador Robert P. Jackson declared a disaster for food insecurity in Cameroon.

• In response to ongoing food insecurity in the Sahel, USAID/OFDA and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) recently committed more than $88 million in assistance to food-insecure populations in the Sahel.
  The new funding includes $82 million provided by USAID/FFP and $6 million provided by USAID/OFDA to support non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and U.N. agencies for activities that address agriculture, food security, livestock, and nutrition needs while strengthening community resilience in the region.