Guest Post – Action Aid
DISCLAIMER: There are many views on this topic and the opinions in this post reflect the authors belief. I encourage civil comments but no personal attacks against one another.
The West African food crisis is getting worse – you can help stop this being a famine.
For those who have been following the news closely, you’ll know that far from being over, the West African food crisis is getting worse by the day, and is quickly on the way to becoming a full-blown humanitarian disaster.
Background to the crisis
In the Sahel region of West Africa, over 18 million people are currently facing a lack of food and water. More than a million children are at risk of serious malnutrition. The last major crisis in this area was only two years ago, so the countries and their inhabitants are still very vulnerable. The situation has been made worse by an influx of migrant workers, and by recent conflicts which forced tens of thousands of refugees from Mali into one of the most affected areas of the region. The next harvest will not come until October, so many communities face a long struggle to survive.
The flow-on effects of the crisis
Of course, the crisis doesn’t just end at a lack of food. Flow on effects from such extreme food shortages often continue for years and decades after the initial crisis has somewhat passed. The country’s economy as a whole suffers, and things like education falls out of focus, especially for women and girls. Children who are exposed to malnutrition and food shortages when young often suffer developmental deficiencies caused by a lack of nutrients during their crucial early developmental stages. Malnourished mothers also can’t give their nursing babies any of the nutrients they need through breast milk. Malnourished children often grow up to experience learning difficulties due to stunted brain development, which adds to an already tragic situation of young women and girls often not receiving the education and schooling they need to help sustain themselves and obtain good jobs later in life.
How organisations are providing help in the region
Agencies on the ground are taking multiple approaches to try to avert catastrophe. On the front line, Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) are providing emergency care to those affected by malnutrition and disease, while charities like ActionAid focus on addressing the root causes of famine by supporting sustainable farming, so that the kind of crisis we are seeing now might be avoided in the future.
Ways to assist the humanitarian effort
In a time like this it’s natural to wonder what we can do to help. We’ve talked about some of the ways that charitable agencies are supporting the people of West Africa. A tax deductible donation to any of the numerous organisations working in the region can go a long way, and is tax deductible. You can look at the websites for each organisation, or a site such as GiveWell, to learn more about how your donation will be used.
The situation in West Africa as it stands is deeply worrying. It makes us question what can be done right now, and what can be done to prevent such a crisis from happening again, There is hope, though, that emergency relief and long term changes to food systems will help alleviate some of the danger that the people of the region face.
Author bio: Jane Meldon is a freelance writer who makes a regular tax deductible donation to charities who are helping to stop the effects of the food crisis in Africa from getting out of control.
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