Have you ever ignored a problem until it’s too late to fix it? We’re all guilty of that sometimes. In the Sahel region of West Africa, there is an invisible food crisis. 18.4 million people are going hungry due to rising food prices and drought.
There are many cracks in our broken food system. By tending to this one before it becomes worse, we can prevent irreversible damage. But we’re running out of time.
There will always be droughts in the Sahel. That’s a natural fact. But hunger is man-made. No-one should have to suffer if the right action is taken to break the cycle. We have to act now.
Oxfam hopes to reach 1.2 million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal with humanitarian aid. But we need to raise more money in order to do so.
We’ve already had some success in our campaign. The government UK pledged £5.4 million extra money for Sahel earlier this week, which takes them up to 100% of their fair share; a brilliant result of UK campaigning. That money will help 10 million people in the region, including nutritional treatment, healthcare, water and sanitation for 31,000 children and food for 170,000 people for six months. We’re hoping to have similar success in other countries.
But the hard work isn’t over yet. We still need to be making a big noise about this crisis. Other countries need to step up to provide aid and FAST. For families in the Sahel, ‘hunger season’ (the harsh, dry summer months when crop supplies and pasture are exhausted in between harvests) is just starting. They don’t have time to wait.
ACT NOW
- Sign the Avaaz petition to Stop the African Hunger Games and appeal to governments in countries like the US, Japan, France and Germany, who have the power to make a difference with their fair share of aid and stop this crisis turning deadly. Oxfam will deliver the petition to US president Barack Obama when a million signatures is reached. A million signatures to match a million children in danger of starvation.
- Share our interactive video on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Reddit and your other networking sites to make this invisible crisis a visible one. Right click the video to find the embed code.
- Share this infographic showing the reasons for the food crisis on Pinterest:
Don’t wait until scenes of starvation reach our TV screens. We can help millions of people grow and eat better by acting NOW.
Stop the African Hunger Games: Food crisis in Sahel
Posted by Al Kinley on 21 June 2012 in aid, Avaaz, famine, food crisis, food insecurity, hunger, international aid, Sahel, starvation, The Hunger Games, West African food crisis
Have you ever ignored a problem until it’s too late to fix it? We’re all guilty of that sometimes. In the Sahel region of West Africa, there is an invisible food crisis. 18.4 million people are going hungry due to rising food prices and drought.
There are many cracks in our broken food system. By tending to this one before it becomes worse, we can prevent irreversible damage. But we’re running out of time.
There will always be droughts in the Sahel. That’s a natural fact. But hunger is man-made. No-one should have to suffer if the right action is taken to break the cycle. We have to act now.
Oxfam hopes to reach 1.2 million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Senegal with humanitarian aid. But we need to raise more money in order to do so.
We’ve already had some success in our campaign. The government UK pledged £5.4 million extra money for Sahel earlier this week, which takes them up to 100% of their fair share; a brilliant result of UK campaigning. That money will help 10 million people in the region, including nutritional treatment, healthcare, water and sanitation for 31,000 children and food for 170,000 people for six months. We’re hoping to have similar success in other countries.
But the hard work isn’t over yet. We still need to be making a big noise about this crisis. Other countries need to step up to provide aid and FAST. For families in the Sahel, ‘hunger season’ (the harsh, dry summer months when crop supplies and pasture are exhausted in between harvests) is just starting. They don’t have time to wait.
ACT NOW
- Sign the Avaaz petition to Stop the African Hunger Games and appeal to governments in countries like the US, Japan, France and Germany, who have the power to make a difference with their fair share of aid and stop this crisis turning deadly. Oxfam will deliver the petition to US president Barack Obama when a million signatures is reached. A million signatures to match a million children in danger of starvation.
- Share our interactive video on Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Reddit and your other networking sites to make this invisible crisis a visible one. Right click the video to find the embed code.
- Share this infographic showing the reasons for the food crisis on Pinterest:
Don’t wait until scenes of starvation reach our TV screens. We can help millions of people grow and eat better by acting NOW.