The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has demanded additional funding to help millions of people in West and Central Africa surpass the coming months known as the grasshoppers season.
WFP confirmed that it would not be able to provide assistance to just over half of the 11.6 million targeted for emergency food delivery in countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria and Chad, to which the influx of refugees from the Sudan had pressured its limited resources.
Malnutrition rates had also risen, with 16.5 million children under the age of five expected to suffer severe malnutrition this year.
The World Food Programme (WFP) is seeking $794 million to respond adequately to needs in the five Sahel countries of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger from July to December.
Conflicts and rising prices have helped increase food insecurity to a 10-year high in West and Central Africa.
Last April, WFP warned of “catastrophic hunger” levels in conflict-affected areas of Burkina Faso and Mali, where insecurity severely hindered humanitarian assistance.
Source: Qatar News Agency