Food and nutrition situation, March-May 2016

In March-May 2016, the region must deal with 6.7 million people facing food and nutrition insecurity. Nearly 4.2 million of them have been displaced because of the security situation in the Lake Chad area, northern Mali, Libya, the Central African Republic and Sudan. Mitigation measures put in place since December have benefitted some 1.2 million vulnerable people who were previously suffering from food insecurity.  In spite of this progress, it is estimated that the situation of some 9.5 million vulnerable people will get worse during the coming lean period (June-August), unless appropriate measures are taken. Similarly, malnutrition remains a cause for concern, with an increase in levels of acute malnutrition – above the warning or emergency thresholds – in certain regions of Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. Approximately 5.9 million children under the age of five are at risk of acute malnutrition this year, and 1.9 million of them could suffer from its severe form if necessary measures are not implemented.