Caritas Internationalis is launching an appeal for a preventive strike on hunger in West Africa’s Sahel region. A poor harvest in 2011 and rising global commodity prices threaten as many as 12 million people with malnutrition. Nearly two million people face hunger in Burkina Faso alone, where the price of corn has increased by a third compared with 2010 and the production of grain has fallen by 16 percent. Caritas is launching an appeal for $2.3 million to provide food and other aid for over 45,000 people in Burkina Faso. Caritas is also working across the Sahel region. “We must act now to avoid tragedy in the months to come,” said the Rev. Isidore Ouedraogo, executive secretary of Caritas Burkina Faso. “Today, we are witnessing thousands of people who eat only one meal a day. By intervening now, Caritas will help them survive the lean season, when the lack of food is most acute.”
Appeal for Africa
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