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STORY: UN / SAHEL UPDATE
TRT: 2.16
SOURCE: UNTV / UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 13 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY / FILE
FILE – UNTV – NEW YORK CITY
1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters
UNTV – 13 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
2. Wide shot, David Gressly during interview
3. SOUNDBITE (English) David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel region, OCHA:
“We project that up to 1.1 million children could be suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 2012. Severe acute malnutrition is a very serious condition with a high risk of dying. Mortality rates of 25 to 60 percent depending on the condition, so it’s severe.”
FILE – UNICEF - 6 APRIL 2012, N’DJAMENA, CHAD
4. Med shot, woman in burka holding malnourished child
5. Close shot, child in mother’s arms being measured with armband
6. Wide shot, women with children waiting for nutritional screening
FILE – UNICEF – 9 FEBRUARY 2012, MAURITANIA
7. Wide shot, cow herd
8. Med shot, tilling ground
UNTV – 13 JULY 2012, NEW YORK CITY
9. SOUNDBITE (English) David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel region, OCHA:
“We’re seeing much lower production this year and more importantly higher prices for food, which means that even when food is available it may not be accessible for many people, they just can’t afford to buy it.”
FILE – UNICEF – 21 JANUARY 2102, NIGER
10. Wide shot, people stacking stalks of grains
11. Close up, stalks of grains
FILE – UNICEF – MARCH 2012, MALI
12. Wide shot, man drives cart
FILE – UNICEF – JANUARY 21, 2012, NIGER
13. Med shot, villager carrying bidons
FILE – UNICEF – 9 FEBRUARY 2012, MAURITANIA
14. Med shot, carcasses dead cows
15. Wide shot, farmers tilling barren field
UNTV – 13 JULY 2012, NEW YORK
16. SOUNDBITE (English) David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel region, OCHA:
“We need 1.6 billion dollars, but about half of that has already been mobilized which is now being used to get food, to get nutrition support into all nine countries and now to deal with the refugee crisis in around Mali. So that response is well underway.”
FILE - UNICEF - MARCH 2012, KONIO CLINIC, KONIO VILLAGE, DJENNÉ PROVINCE, MALI
17. Med shot, nurse feeds baby Plumpy’Nut
18. Close up, baby is fed Plumpy’Nut
FILE – UNICEF - MARCH 2012, MOPTI, MALI
19. Close up, workers offloading Plumpy’Nut
20. Wide shot, UNICEF overseeing Plumpy’Nut stocks
UNTV – 13 JULY 2012, NEW YORK
21. SOUNDBITE (English) David Gressly, Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel region, OCHA:
“You can save someone’s life from food insecurity, you can save their life from malnutrition, a young child but may still die of cholera or diarrheal disease, so there has to be a complete package and we don’t quite have that package yet in terms of funding.”
FILE – UNICEF - 5 APRIL 2012, N’DJAMENA, CHAD
22. Med shot, woman at market selling goods
23. Med shot, nuts on ground at woman’s stall
24. Med shot, woman measuring and packaging soup powder
The UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Sahel, David Gressly said today (13 July) that up to 1.1 million children in the region could be suffering from severe acute malnutrition in 2012.
The severe food and nutrition crisis affecting the Sahel region of West Africa is worsening and needs are rising sharply, according to the UN's humanitarian agency, OCHA. More than 18 million people in nine countries are facing food insecurity.
Nine countries, Senegal, the Gambia, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad as well as northern parts of Nigeria and Cameroon are already affected by food insecurity and conflict, with conflict in Mali exacerbating the crisis and making access more difficult. The region had also gone through a series of droughts, in 2005, in 2012 and the same is repeating this year.
In an interview in New York, Gressly said that food production was much lower this year and more importantly the higher food prices meant availability for many people was even more difficult, because “they just can’t afford to buy it”.
Governments and humanitarian agencies have been working to support people in need since the alarm was raised last year. While nutrition programmes and direct food distributions are having an impact, progress made could be lost very quickly without continued support, according to OCHA.
So far, only 42 per cent of the $1.6 billion raised have been received and already mobilized to get food and nutrition support into the nine countries and to deal with the refugee crisis around Mali. Gressly said the response was “well underway.”
But he warned there were still some shortfalls in funding for health and water, and the “complete package” needed to save lives was not available yet.
