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Mali: Sahel Annual Report 2014 (MAA61004)

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Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies
Country: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal

Overview

This report covers the period from 1 January to 31 December 2014. The Operational Plan for 2014 has been implemented with some adjustments to some planned activities due to the limited funding available.

The Sahel region of West Africa includes some of the poorest countries in the world, lacking the capacity for minimum service delivery and harbouring very low nutrition, health and livelihoods indicators. The recurrent crises in the region include: slow onset and recurring food crises linked to recurrent droughts, floods affecting fertile and often highly populated areas; encroachment on coastal areas vital for biodiversity and fishing communities; conflicts with population movement crises, with thousands of uprooted people seeking refuge in fragile environments.

Millions of people are facing food insecurity and malnutrition in the Sahel region due to primarily poor rainfall. Food security conditions of people affected by recurrent food crisis during the last years have not improved. Based on Government and UN agencies reports, over 1,000,000 persons in the country are food insecure and still depend on food aid. Ebola came to add on the already heavy toll of affected populations in the region.

Despite the improvement of the security situation in Northern Mali, thousands of people are still refugees in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania. They live in precarious conditions and need lifesaving assistance. In Nigeria, violence continues to displace thousands, both internally and into neighbouring countries. Chad also has been affected by population movements and now harbours over 264,000 Sudanese refugees in the East, 30,000 Central African refugees in the South and 2,000 Nigerian refugees in North-West. In addition to these refugees, Chad has received 100,000 nationals who fled the conflict in Central Africa Republic (CAR) in late 2013. An assessment mission was undertaken in Chad in four regions. A plan of action has been elaborated and the Federation is working with the National Society to seek for funding to implement it.

The Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in West Africa is unprecedented in terms of the number of cases, deaths and its geographical spread. As of 8 December 2014, the total number of cases was over 17,000 with 6,500 confirmed deaths. The EVD Outbreak spread to Senegal, but the country was fortunately declared Ebola free in October 2014. Cases in Mali occurred in November and as of 8 December; Mali had no more new confirmed cases of EVD. While the efforts to stop the ongoing spread and bring the epidemic to an end have gained in commitment and capacity; the risk of further spread, both within the affected countries and more widely beyond the region is also a real threat and still needs to be planned for appropriately. If not contained and eliminated, not only is there a risk that the EVD becomes endemic to the region, it could potentially spread beyond the West part of Africa and threaten peace and stability in the affected countries. There has already been repeated riots and attacks of Red Cross teams and humanitarian teams, and it is feared that the volatile situation in the affected areas e.g. in Liberia and the Guinea Forest Area could be driven into violent conflict if the disease outbreak is not controlled within a foreseeable timeframe.

This is the first time an outbreak of this size has been experienced in West Africa. In the past, outbreaks have been seen in remote forest regions of Africa, which has meant they have been self-limiting and controlled within a contained area. In addition, the current outbreak is no longer just a public health emergency of international concern, but a much broader humanitarian crisis – the Ebola outbreak has resulted in the suspension of other critical humanitarian services in the areas affected, including food security and nutrition programmes, water and sanitation activities, health services, and other community development programmes. There is a looming discontent amongst the affected population, and outbreaks of violence and violent attacks on humanitarians are on the increase. Furthermore, as provided by the September 2014 IASC Gender Alert, women are proportionately more affected by the disease1. (See the IASC Gender Alert issued by the IASC Reference Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action, of which the IFRC is a co-chair).


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