LONDON (AlertNet) - The food crisis in Niger is deteriorating faster than expected and could cost the lives of a generation, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.
Josette Sheeran, executive director of the organisation, said the brains and bodies of children under five will be damaged for life if they don't have adequate nutrition. The drought-stricken Sahel region in West Africa - encompassing Niger, Chad, Cameroon and Mali - is facing dwindling food supplies and high prices at market.
"We risk losing a generation there," Sheeran told AlertNet in an interview. "We're declaring Niger an emergency operation - this is our highest level of alert."
WFP plans to reach 4.5 million people in the region in the coming weeks and months, Sheeran said, "but the situation is deteriorating quicker than we expected." The organisation needs about $100 million to bridge a funding gap for the region.
Sheeran, speaking after taking part in a WFP/AlertNet event, The F-word: Hunger in the Media, also discussed the WFP's operations in Somalia, the organisation's struggle to boost funding and the need to make food aid more sophisticated to address country-specific deficiencies.
Asked about a U.N. report in March on Somalia that found half of food aid was being diverted to a network of corrupt contractors, al Shabaab militants and local U.N. staff, Sheeran said the WFP operated a "zero tolerance" policy on food diversion and fraud.
"Whenever an allegation is raised, we immediately investigate it and we tighten our controls," she said, adding that Somalia was one of the most difficult places in the world to work.
"We've had demands to turn over the food for delivery by armed groups which is against our principles and something we can't agree to anywhere in the world - keeping control of food is key," she added.
Sheeran said countries like Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast and Burundi, which are not now in the headlines for hunger, are also vulnerable to food shortages.
Over the longer-term, the WFP is developing additional means to feed the hungry that go beyond just giving them food, including supplying them with food vouchers and cash so they can afford to buy the food that is available at local markets.
"It's about getting the right food in the right place at the right time, with the right tool," she said.
Sheeran said the number of hungry in the world was still accelerating due to the global financial crisis and high food prices.
Watch the rest of SheeranÂ?s interview here:
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