ReliefWeb

Background

Around 17 million people live in the affected areas across the four Lake Chad basin countries. More than 2.3 million people remain displaced. Most of the displaced families are sheltered by communities that count among the world’s poorest and most vulnerable. Food insecurity and malnutrition have reached critical levels.

Recent developments

Malnutrition has worsened in Chad’s western Lac region. Global acute malnutrition stands at 18.1 per cent, above the 15 per cent emergency threshold and worse than the 2016 rate (12.2 per cent). Severe acute malnutrition has also increased from 2.1 per cent in 2016 to 3.4 per cent in 2017, but remains slightly below the national average. In Cameroon, 40 per cent of children under five in Far North region are struck by chronic malnutrition. Just over half of the funds needed to tackle malnutrition in the region have so far been provided. The season’s harvests are projected to improve food security in several areas in north-eastern Nigeria. Agricultural output in certain parts of Niger’s south-eastern Diffa region are also encouraging. However, pasture production in other parts of Diffa is low, with deficit likely to surpass 2 million tons. Armed raids on villages and attacks on displacement camps in north-east Nigeria persist. In Cameroon’s Far North region, around 1,700 people were displaced following a recent raid in which the assailants destroyed houses and property