CERF allocates $15 million for 1.7 million food-insecure people in Niger

12 August 2010: In response to severe food insecurity across the country, CERF allocates $15 million for 1.7 million vulnerable people in Niger.

The World Food Programme (WFP) will receive $15 million to improve nutritional status and reinforce livelihoods for close to 1.7 million people and also to augment logistic support.

Niger is in the midst of a food and nutrition crisis resulting from the failed harvest in 2009 due to the lack of rainfall. A recent vulnerability assessment, conducted in April 2010, indicates that over 7 million people, 46% of the population, are in a situation of moderate to severe food insecurity, reaching alarming proportions in some departments. This survey reveals a significant increase in the number of severely food-insecure people from 2.6 million, according to a rapid survey conducted in December 2009, to 3.3 million people in April 2010. It also reveals a high level of vulnerability in urban areas, particularly amongst new migrants, as well as a higher rate of severe food insecurity amongst women.

The results of the 2010 Nutrition Survey, published on 24 June, testify to the magnitude of the nutritional crisis among children. The Nutrition Survey reveals a global acute malnutrition (GAM) prevalence exceeding the 15% emergency threshold, with 16.7% of children aged 6 to 59 months affected. Malnutrition has significantly increased since the last survey conducted in 2009, when it was recorded at 12.3%. Severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has also risen from 2.1% in 2009 to 3.2% in 2010.

CERF allocated $14 million from the Rapid Response window in May and $6 million through the Underfunded window in January for food-insecurity in Niger.