Sahel and West Africa: 23.7 million people in crisis phase (3-5), Oct-Dec

Provisional analyses of the Cadre harmonisé CH (excluding Cabo Verde and Liberia) indicate that 23.7 million people are in need of immediate food assistance. The food insecurity outbreak that emerged in the Gulf of Guinea in 2019 persists; for the third consecutive year, Sierra Leone has more than one million people affected. Acute malnutrition rates are above the 10% alert threshold in Mauritania, Niger and Chad, and above the 15% emergency threshold in several areas of some countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and Chad). Security tensions and violence, inflation, the generalised increase in cereal prices and the consequences of health measures in response to the Covid-19 pandemic are exacerbating the food and nutrition crisis.