8/6/2007
Commission Contributes Extra €25 M To Fight Malnutrition in The Sahel and Calls for Proactive Plans to Prevent Food Crises.

The European Commission has adopted a global humanitarian aid plan worth €15 million for vulnerable people affected by longer-lasting crises in the Sahel region. This is in addition to €10 million already made available this year under the food aid budget to respond to short-term nutritional needs in the Sahel.

This aid will reduce acute malnutrition and mortality among those who are most vulnerable – in particular the estimated 1.3 million acutely malnourished children under the age of five, as well as five million pregnant and breast-feeding women.

Child mortality in the Sahel is one of the highest in the world and malnutrition is associated with nearly 60% of all child deaths. The aid covers five countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger. Responding to the immediate consequences and humanitarian needs, this humanitarian aid plan complements longer-term development aid provided by the Commission to tackle the root causes of malnutrition. All relief funds are channelled through the Commission’s Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO).

Olli Rehn, acting Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid, said: "We need to be more proactive in tackling the root causes of acute malnutrition and consequent child mortality. Too often, international aid arrives too late, when the food crisis is already there. Lessons have been learned from the 2005 Niger food crisis."

The Commission has put in place an integrated and articulated aid strategy to assist the countries of the Sahel to make malnutrition history. This strategy draws on food security and rural development programmes, as well as on nutritional surveillance and contingency plans. The Commission appeals to the rest of the international community to embark on a more comprehensive and preventive approach to food and malnutrition.

The Sahel is the poorest and one of the most underdeveloped regions in the world. A series of external shocks – drought, locusts, epidemics, floods, spill-over of unrest from neighbouring countries – has aggravated the already precarious nutritional status of the most vulnerable populations. Coping mechanisms have been badly damaged and the increasing frequency of external shocks – natural disasters have increased by 94% in the Sahel region over the last 30 years – prevents communities from recovering before the next disaster strikes.