Seven months after Sierra Leone’s first Ebola case, the Turtle Islands have now become dependent on food aid. By /Tommy Trenchard/Al Jazeera
Like much of the Sahel, Chad’s Guera region is experiencing another bout of an all too familiar phenomenon: severe drought, food shortages, hunger and chronic malnutrition. Up to 18 million people across the Sahel are facing a severe food crisis and 1 million children could be affected by severe, acute malnutrition.
Droughts are by no means new in this part of the world and have been occurring cyclically since the 17th century but as Professor Marc Bellemare at Duke University in North Carolina points out “food crises rarely, if ever, occur because of an overall lack of food to go around.” Instead, “poor infrastructure and conflict combine to create the perfect storm of constraints to food imports and food distribution” and a steep increase in population over the past two decades is exacerbating the problem.
Adjitti Mahamat ,40, cooks the one big meal a day for as many as ten children, including Kadija Ahmat 2, (on her back). Kassira Village, Guera province, Chad. 13/2/12 read on what is on the menu for the rest of the week
A potentially catastrophic food crisis in the Sahel region of West and Central Africa could affect as many as one million children. The food and nutrition crisis resulting from a severe drought, threatens the survival of an entire generation of children. Those children in eight countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger, Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal – are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. Sparse rainfall, poor harvests and rising food prices have left many vulnerable and weak, seeking medical attention. Sahel is one of the poorest regions in the world where children already face daunting odds of survival. The current crisis makes their survival even more tenuous. Associated Press photographer, Ben Curtis, documented the conditions in the region. — Paula Nelson (EDITORS NOTE: We will not be posting Monday, May 14) (32 photos total)
Ben Curtis—AP – April 20, 2012. A dead donkey lies partially covered by the wind-swept sand in an area of desert where villagers take dead animals to avoid the smell and potential for disease affecting them, near the village of Dala in the Sahel belt of Chad. read more
In some parts of west Africa, water levels have become dangerously low and pastureland has disappeared. The UN estimates more than 13 million people are at risk of serious food shortages. Here, Chadian women in the Bahr-el-Ghazal and Guera provinces speak about the poor harvest over the last few years and the difficulties they have in feeding their children. Photographer Andy Hall link