World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

The land is deceptively green in the southern part of Mauritania. Recent rains may have allowed grass to grow and livestock to graze, but the region is still undergoing its “lean season” and, with meager harvests still some months away, the local populations of the southern regions of Brakna, Gorgol, Assaba, Tagant, and Guidimaka are struggling to see themselves through to harvest. 

Zeinabou, a mother of eight, fled with her family from conflict in her native Mali in January. There were rumours that a plane would come and bomb her town. She did not wait to see whether they were true; the family rented a car and fled to south eastern Mauritania. But life in the Mbera refugee camp is hard, she is pregnant and would like to return home, so her child can be born there.

In some countries across the Sahel the end of the lean season heralded a period of steady rainfall.  Not so in Mauritania, where households are still struggling to cope with the effects of the drought, which has reduced farmers’ crop yield and increased the price of food on local markets.    

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.

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.

Alongside other countries in the Sahel region, Mauritania is suffering  from a serious food and nutrition crisis that is hitting the most vulnerable members of the population, including young children. In response, WFP has launched special distributions designed to prevent acute malnutrition in children between 6 and 24 months.

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.

WFP Mauritania is launching two emergency operations to respond to the needs of those facing severe hunger as a result of the drought as well as the Malian refugees, who have fled to Mauritania to escape the Touareg conflict. 

In early September, WFP nutrition focal points and their government counterparts from 18 countries across West Africa gathered in Dakar for a four-day workshop.