Highlights

Nutrition crisis
- Some 1.1 million children under 5 will suffer from severe acute malnutrition (SAM), or up to 1.5 million in the worst case scenario and 3 million children with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM).
- Number of children under 5 admitted to therapeutic treatment programmes for SAM is on the rise at the start of the dry season. 140,252 children under 5 have so far received lifesaving treatment for SAM across 5 of the 8 Sahel countries (see table 1 below, data from Burkina Faso, Mali & Mauritania not available at this time).
- The number of health centres with facilities for the treatment of SAM across the Sahel has now been scaled up from 3,100 in 2011 to 4,154.

Mali complex emergency
- The National Assembly of Mali estimates that the number of internally displaced is over 200,000; OCHA puts the number at 146,900. More than 190,000 have taken refuge in the neighbouring countries of Mauritania (63,913), Burkina Faso (56,817), Niger (39,388) and Algeria (30,000), of which more than half are children.
- UNICEF has full access to carry out activities for the nutrition crisis and the IDPs located in the south of Mali, and has sent humanitarian assistance into the four affected regions (Kidal, Gao, Kidal, Mopti and Timbuktu) to cover medical needs of 60,000 people.
- UNICEF, in coordination with other UN agencies and partners, is working on reassessing needs and solutions to expand its coverage in the north.

Emerging threats
- Cholera across the region is going to get worse as we approach the rainy season in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria, Niger and Mali; UNICEF is preparing for response across WASH, Health and community messaging. UNICEF will respond to epidemics such as measles, meningitis which could have a devastating effect on children that are already undernourished in the Sahel.

Funding
- Fundraising efforts for the Sahel crises continue, and as of 8 May: $79.1 million of the US$ 119.5 million requested (66 per cent) has been received for the nutrition crisis and $1.5 million of the US$ 18.8 million requested (8 per cent) has been received to meet the immediate needs of children and women displaced by the Mali conflict.
- A revised Humanitarian Action Update (HAU) will be released in June to reflect increased needs.