Food and nutrition trends in the Sahel and West Africa, 2017-21

Absorbed by the permanent management of food emergencies, many countries are struggling to address the root causes of food and nutrition crises. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of people in need of food assistance during the lean season (June-August) increased from 9.7 million people to 27.1. This explosion in food assistance requirements is occurring in a context of severe budgetary tensions caused by overlapping crises (food, security, health, etc.). The permanent recourse to emergency food assistance compromises the investment capacity of governments to tackle the structural causes of hunger and malnutrition.