The World Food Programme (WFP) of the United Nations stated on Wednesday that it needs additional funding to assist millions of people in West and Central Africa to get through the upcoming months known as the "hunger season."
The program indicated that the current financial crisis means it will only be able to provide assistance to just over half of the 11.6 million people targeted by emergency food aid operations in countries such as Burkina Faso, Nigeria, and Chad, where the influx of refugees from Sudan has increased pressure on their limited resources.
The WFP highlighted that malnutrition rates have also risen, with an expectation that 16.5 million children under five will suffer from acute malnutrition this year.
Conflicts and rising prices have contributed to a peak in food insecurity, reaching the highest level in ten years in West and Central Africa, according to an analysis conducted by the regional food security group, Cadre Harmonisé, in March.
The program is seeking $794 million to adequately respond to needs in the five Sahel countries: Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger, from July to December.
