Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
An estimated 3.3 million people in Burkina Faso are facing acute food insecurity, two United Nations agencies warned on Friday
NEW YORK, United States of America, August 22, 2020/ -- Citing alarming new data, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), stressed that “urgent and sustained action” is needed to address the
worsening food and nutrition situation throughout the country.
Hunger trending upward
Since the situation in Burkina Faso was last assessed in March, acute
food insecurity has increased more than 50 per cent, according to the
latest analysis.
And in a country already reeling from conflict and climate change, the UN survey points out that COVID-19 has intensified people’s inability to earn money to cover their daily needs.
“The COVID-19 pandemic is further exacerbating a crisis that was already deteriorating at a worrying pace, pushing more and more people into
severe food crisis and acute food insecurity,” said Dauda Sau, FAO Representative in Burkina Faso.
Emergency phase
Meanwhile, the provinces of Oudalan and Soum in the Sahel region have
been driven into the emergency phase of food insecurity, as defined by
the analysis.
Some three per cent of people in these northern areas are said to be
experiencing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity and facing
extreme food consumption gaps, which are also resulting in alarming
levels of acute malnutrition.
“We’re seeing an alarming deterioration in food security across the
worst-hit parts of the country,” said David Bulman, WFP Country Director and Representative in Burkina Faso.
And many of those worst affected have been displaced from their homes by fighting in the region.
“We need to take immediate action to reverse this trend in the two
provinces. It would be nothing short of a disaster were a whole
generation to be crushed by conflict, displacement and hunger,” he
added.
Changing the course
Many of those most at risk are subsistence farmers and livestock herders.
While urgent humanitarian life-and livelihood-saving assistance is
essential to address immediate needs, so too are longer-term investments in rural livelihoods and social services which, experts say can help
reinforce social cohesion and contribute to peace.
“We can reverse this trend if we act now by supporting the Government to protect livelihoods, rapidly increase local food production and
availability, and support rural populations to access food,” the FAO
Representative stated.
Both FAO and WFP have been responding to the crisis in Burkina Faso by
providing food assistance coupled with livelihood protection and support for displaced people and the host communities that receive them.
Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
Coronavirus: As Burkina Faso grapples with COVID-19, new UN data reveals ‘alarming deterioration’ in food security
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