Key messages
High food prices and recurrent indebtedness of the most vulnerable households in Burkina Faso, where more than half of the population lives in extreme poverty, aggravate a structural food insecurity situation.
Child suffering in Burkina Faso is at the level of emergency: it's estimated that 120,000 children under five years old suffer from Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM).
The European Commission is funding humanitarian projects that provide treatment for malnutrition, free health care for children under five, pregnant women and lactating mothers, as well as cash and vouchers distribution to the poorest households to allow them to buy their own food.
To strengthen resilience to future shocks and break the negative spiral of poverty and hunger, the international donor community should support Burkina Faso to mainstream these interventions as part of a social protection package for the poorest of the poor.