A mother from Niger, affected by the food crisis. © Melanie Brooks / CAREIn the spring and summer of 2012 a food and nutritional crisis unfolded in the Sahel belt of North West Africa, affecting millions of people.

CARE had been monitoring the situation since October and scaled up its response.

Due to poor and erratic rains in 2011, the harvest was lower than previous years and there was a lack of fodder for livestock. Malnutrition in many areas is approaching or exceeding emergency levels and rising prices of food and basic necessities is making it difficult for millions families to cope.

Clare Sayce, Emergency Response Manager talks about the situation:

CARE's emergency response:

In Chad CARE provided food to young children and their mothers, and rehabilitate wells so that families have access to clean water.

In Mali CARE worked to meet the urgent needs of 30,000 households affected by food insecurity and displacement due to conflict.

In Niger CARE:

Provided cash-for-work to help 6,000 families buy food
Trained nurses on malnutrition
Assisted community cereal banks so families can buy food at reasonable prices
Worked with women’s savings and loans groups to develop community vegetable gardens - increasing resilience
Provided urgent assistance to Malian people who fled fighting in Mali and sought refuge in Niger

Join CARE's 2012 charity walk and help support our emergency work

Donate to our West Africa Crisis appeal

Press releases from the West Africa Food Crisis:

New report: Sahel food crisis rapidly worsening

Niger communities say they will run out of food before next harvest, joint study shows - 21 March 2012

CARE calls on institutional donors to act now to prevent a humanitarian disaster in the Sahel - 26 January 2012

Niger: CARE warns of emerging food crisis - 20 October 2011

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Disaster response: our impact

Food and hunger
Participants: 2,410,995
CARE helped over 2 million people affected by disasters have enough to eat last year.

Health
Participants: 3,018,050
CARE reached more than 3 million people with basic essential medical services in an emergency.

Shelter
Participants: 166,792
CARE helped over 160,000 people last year by providing temporary or transitional shelter after they became homeless through a disaster.

Water and sanitation
Participants: 9,139,887
Last year CARE helped more than 9 million people access clean water in the aftermath of an emergency.