CERF Allocates $1.8million for 82,000 food insecure people in the regions of Brakna, Gorgol, and Guidimakha in Mauritania
14 September 2010: Some $756,000 will go to the World Food Programme (WFP) for treatment for acute malnutrition for vulnerable populations in the south. Some $460,000 has been allocated to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to assist food insecure farmers and animal breeders. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) will use $193,000 for 1,250 malnourished children. Over 1,800 severely malnourished children will be cared by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the CERF funding of $181,000. Finally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) will use $161,000 to assist pregnant and nursing women and reduce the neonatal and maternal mortality and morbidity.
Mauritania’s main agricultural area is along the Senegal River, and the harvest time is between July and September. Before the harvest season, it was observed that the nutritional stocks for families had been exhausted and malnutrition and food insecurity situation is grave.
According to the food security research conducted in July 2010, food insecurity is prevalent in most of the regions, with an average of 25 per cent of the population in rural areas are affected. The percentage of families with poor or limited nutrition rose from 13 per cent in February to 25 per cent in May, with the pastoral areas most affected. In July, the severe malnutrition rate was recorded at 12.5 per cent of the population.
[Last updated: 16 February 2011]