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West Africa: Zonal Programmes Annual Appeal MAA61001 2008-2009

Countries
Benin
+ 21 more
Sources
IFRC
Publication date

This appeal seeks CHF 36,634,285 (USD 32,767,696 or EUR 22,202,596) to fund the planned programmes that are to be implemented in 2008-2009.

Current context

The West and Central African zone is a diverse region comprising 24 countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo) and has an estimated population of 350 million people.

A number of diseases take a heavy toll on the population across the zone, such as HIV/AIDS, malaria, measles, waterborne diseases, cholera, meningitis and Ebola. Underlying the serious health challenges is widespread general poverty and 55 per cent of the population live on less than USD 1 per day and seven of the ten countries with the highest under-five mortality rates in the world are in this zone.

The Red Cross/Red Crescent societies in the zone, together with the International Federation, are committed to improve the health conditions of the vulnerable populations. In collaboration with their respective governments, Ministries of Health (MoH) and various partners, they are putting their impressive network of approximately one million dedicated and motivated volunteers into action.

Thousands of people across the zone have been made homeless due to heavy rains and floods, partly influenced by climate change but also due to poor infrastructure, others have fled their countries due to civil unrest and conflict. Drought, locust invasion, crop failure and poor harvest as well as conflict have all contributed to widespread food insecurity and malnutrition across the zone.

Contact information

For further information, please contact:

- In Senegal: Alasan Senghore, Federation Head of Zone for West and Central Africa, Dakar; email: alasan.senghore@ifrc.org; telephone: +221.869.3641; Fax: +221.860.2002