Sahel Crisis

Sahel Crisis

April 2012

The Sahel region of West Africa was in the grips of a drought, food and refugee crisis caused by a combination of erratic rainfall, failed harvests, soaring market prices and insecurity. Vulnerable people in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Mauritania, Senegal, and The Gambia were at risk of severe hunger.

For decades, international aid agencies and our member agencies have been on the ground across the Sahel region with vital programs to support communities with water, sanitation, food distribution, nutrition support, agriculture, animal health and livelihoods.

In response to the food crisis, work on nutrition centres, child education programs, resilience mechanisms, cash-for-work initiatives, and assistance to pastoralist communities and Malian refugees were dramatically scaled up to help affected communities.

Donations received by the Humanitarian Coalition directly assisted nearly 190,000 individuals, almost half of whom were children.

Population affected
18 million