World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

As families in the Sahel struggle to recover from this year’s hunger crisis, tens of millions of locusts threaten to swarm across the region devouring the new harvest. To ensure that doesn’t happen, WFP has airlifted insecticide to Mali and Chad in a joint operation with its sister agency, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

To assist the humanitarian community in its response to the Malian refugee crisis in Mauritania, WFP receives mobile storage facilities to house the necessary food to feed the growing number of refugees.

The political unrest and widespread insecurity have made the northern regions of Mali inaccessible to major UN humanitarian organizations. However, WFP has been exploring all possible ways and transportation channels, partnering with various NGOs, to try to deliver food to vulnerable populations.

For the third time in a decade, drought in the Sahel region of Africa is threatening millions of people with hunger. But how do people survive in these situations and what are we doing to help them? Here are the answers to eight questions about the current hunger crisis in the Sahel and WFP's response to it.

For the first time in Mali, WFP has started cash-based food assistance - the most vulnerable will receive money that will help them buy food on the local market and prepare for the planting season. 

The US Ambassador in Mali visited WFP activities in the Kayes region of Mali, where around 300,000 people are at risk of food insecurity.

WFP has launched an emergency operation to deliver life-saving food assistance to thousands of people fleeing conflict in Mali. As refugees stream into areas already strained by drought in the Sahel, it's imperative to reach them with assistance in time for the summer Hunger Season.

The telecoms company Orange has donated close to $100,000 to WFP to provide much-needed food assistance to internally displaced people in Mali.