In the past decade, chronic food insecurity and malnutrition, cyclical drought, locust infestations, seasonal floods, disease outbreaks, and recurrent complex emergencies have presented significant challenges to vulnerable populations in the West Africa region. Between FY 2004 and FY 2013, USAID’s Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) and USAID’s Office of Food for Peace (USAID/FFP) have provided humanitarian assistance to lessen the impacts of a diverse range of natural disasters and manmade crises, including food insecurity, malnutrition, high food prices, and locust infestations in the Sahel; complex emergencies in Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, and Sierra Leone; meningitis, cholera, and measles outbreaks in multiple countries; and flooding throughout the region.
Between FY 2004 and FY 2013, USAID provided nearly $1.6 billion in humanitarian assistance to West Africa, comprising more than $1.3 billion from USAID/FFP for emergency food assistance and nearly $312 million from USAID/OFDA for agriculture and food security, economic recovery and market systems, health, nutrition, protection, shelter, and water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions, as well as support for humanitarian coordination, logistics, and the provision of relief commodities.
