The UN has been sounding the alarm since last September that the situation in the Sahel region was likely to become “a major humanitarian situation” this year unless something was done to reverse the trend.

“We are extremely concerned that millions of people will be affected by a combination of drought, poverty and high grain prices, which, coupled with environmental degradation and chronic underdevelopment, is expected to result in a new food and nutrition crisis,” Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Catherine Bragg stated in New York, the UN [reports](http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41238&Cr=sahel&Cr1=).

Bragg, who visited Senegal last week, said that people in that country, as well as Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Chad, northern Cameroon and northern Nigeria, are all likely to be affected over the coming months. “For many, the crisis has already begun,” she stated. “We already know that an estimated 10 million people or more are struggling to get enough to eat, including 5.4 million in Niger alone.”

**Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burking Faso, Senegal**

In the region, more than a million children under the age of five risk severe acute malnutrition – that is up from 300,000 last year, she added.

The area currently affected by the crisis covers a vast swath of territory, including Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger but concerns have also been extended to other countries in the region such as Burking Faso and Senegal.

Among those most in danger, children face the highest risk of mortality linked to malnutrition, followed by pregnant and lactating women and adolescent girls.

Bragg said the governments of Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad have all declared an emergency situation and called for international assistance, and most have put forward plans to deal with the crisis and to build people’s resilience to such shocks.

**Food Security Shocks**

“Essential activities include selling cereal and pasture at subsidized prices, distributing seeds and providing livestock support, as well as income-generating activities and the replenishment of national food security shocks.”

She added that $724 million will be needed for the revised Sahel Regional Strategy, which takes into account the existing Government plans and the humanitarian appeals for Niger and Chad.

**Urgent Need to Re-build Resilience**

“Not long ago, we were calling for early action to contain the food crisis in the Horn of Africa. We now have an opportunity to demonstrate that we have learned our lessons from that crisis: that both early action and efforts to re-build resilience are critical to the Sahel,” said Bragg, who is also Deputy UN Emergency Relief Coordinator.

Two top UN officials arrived to Niger on 16 Feb. to discuss the crisis, the UN [reports](http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41269&Cr=sahel&Cr1=). These are under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos and UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark.

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2012 [Human Wrongs Watch](http://human-wrongs-watch.net/)