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Food security –- the availability of food and people’s access to it –- is a luxury rather than a right in many communities of Africa.
A household is considered food secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. Sadly, this is not the case in countless households of West, East and Southern Africa, as their countries continue to account for most of world’s highest rates of hunger and child under-nutrition.
The Sahel region of West Africa continues to account for some of the world’s highest child malnutrition rates, with over 13 million people classified as food insecure and Niger having the highest percentage of underweight children -- 44% (UNICEF).
The impact of the current global food crisis is being deeply felt in communities and households across Africa, especially those that are hardest hit by droughts and hunger. World Vision has prioritised 12 countries for ongoing programmes to build food security -- Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ethiopia, Mauritania, Northern Sudan, Niger, Southern Sudan, Senegal, Somalia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Kenya. In collaboration with UN agencies, governments, donors and communities, World Vision is implementing community-based food security programmes for children and their families in a number of these countries, whilst also seeking to ensure that food-insecure households do not withdraw their children from school in order to generate more income.
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