ReliefWeb

Situation analysis

• 60 percent increase in the estimated number of people at risk of food insecurity – from 4.2 to about 6.8 million people

• 1.6 million cases of children with severe acute malnutrition – 46 percent increase from 2017 estimates in worst-case scenario

• 2.5 million pastoralists and agropastoralists require urgent livelihoods assistance

Introduction

The latest Cadre Harmonisé food security analysis (November 2017) has indicated that 4.25 million people will require food assistance during the lean season (May–August 2018) in pastoral areas across the Sahel (Burkina Faso, Chad, the Niger, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal).1 Drought, high food prices, conflict and market distortions have further aggravated the food security and nutrition situation in the Sahel since the end of 2017. Various assessments from United Nations agencies, governments and clusters suggest that the number of people in need of humanitarian assistance could increase in the coming months, reaching up to 6.8 million people.

Severe rainfall deficits in many parts of the Sahelian belt in 2017 have affected pasture availability in major pastoral and agropastoral areas of the region and have led to an early onset of the lean season. This has had a significant impact on livestock conditions and movements.

Up to 40 and 95 percent of the pastoral areas were negatively affected in Chad and Mauritania, respectively,2 while about 2.5 million pastoralists and agropastoralists require urgent livelihood assistance.

In late 2017, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimated that well over 1 million children under the age of five may be affected by severe acute malnutrition in 2018. However, based on economic, security and climate events from December 2017 to February 2018, UNICEF expects an additional 520 000 children to be affected – a 46 percent increase.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP) have therefore developed an early action and scale-up plan to jointly address the immediate needs of the most vulnerable people, including those of pastoralists and agropastoralists, as well as longer-term structural challenges.

The joint position paper puts forward the three United Nations agencies’ analysis and integrated programmatic strategy to address the needs and strengthen the livelihoods of women, men and children in the Sahel in 2018, outlining the latest key developments and factors influencing the food security and nutrition situation in the six most affected Sahelian countries.

1 Dispositif régional de prévention et de gestion des crises (PREGEC), November 2017
2 PREGEC, November 2017