Aid agencies are sounding the alarm about an impending drought in the countries of the Sahel region of Western Africa, threatening 12 million people with severe malnutrition, including 1 million children.
Production of cereals has been hampered by poor rainfall throughout 2011, raising prices of food across the region. The coming crisis is expected to eclipse the drought that affected 7 million in Niger and Chad in 2009.
Just as the drought and famine in the Horn of Africa could have been prevented with greater intervention, aid agencies are warning that an “unprecedented effort” is necessary to ensure that drought in the Sahel region does not become a worst case scenario in 2012.
Image credit: Discover Magazine
