International community must learn from its mistakes

New report claims up to 100,000 people died from a delayed response to the East Africa drought

The severe drought which wreaked havoc in East Africa for much of last year now appears to have spread right across the continent. World Vision says the international community must act now before parts of West Africa suffer a similar fate and succumb to famine.

"A report just released by fellow aid agencies Oxfam and Save the Children points to a delayed response effort in East Africa being responsible for up to 100,000 deaths" says World Vision's director of international policy and programming Seth le Leu. "World Vision began issuing warnings that a massive food crisis was imminent in February 2011, but no-one seemed to listen until famine was finally and officially declared five months later."
Le Leu says West Africa presents an opportunity to make amends to some degree. "If the international community acts now, we can save lives. We can prevent history repeating itself".

The reason the situation is so dire in the West is that it's less than two years since its last drought. The region has simply not had the time to properly recover.

In Niger, the crisis has been exacerbated by the return of migrant workers (who had been sending money back to their families) fleeing the conflict in Libya. As a consequence they are arriving home to no jobs and no food.
Furthermore, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS-NET) has predicted acute food insecurity will rise to 'crisis levels' in two months' time. The Governments of Niger, Mauritania and Mali have all called for international help, requesting food assistance.

For its part, World Vision is currently:

• Distributing food to low-income families
• Expanding its life-saving nutrition programmes for children
• Vaccinating livestock to protect them from disease, thus preserving livelihoods
• Distributing seeds (for hardy crops) to farmers
• Drilling additional wells to increase access to clean, safe water
• Working with the International Crop Research Institute for the semi-arid Tropics (ICRISAT) to improve soil quality and crop resilience.

How can you get involved?

• Make a donation to help World Vision respond to the looming hunger crisis in West Africa.

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