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Red Cross Joins Famine Relief Effort in Niger
Written by
Lesly Simmons
, Staff Writer, RedCross.org
Wednesday, August 03, 2005 — A devastating famine in Niger and surrounding West African countries is threatening millions, and while humanitarian aid is pouring into the region many lives will still be lost, according to relief officials.
The food crisis began when rainy season was instead unusually dry, killing crops and livestock across the region. That was followed by a plague of locusts that devoured much of the remaining food in the fields. More than 85 percent of Niger’s 11.7 million citizens depend on agriculture for their livelihood, and at least 3.6 million people are facing major food shortages.
Niger Red Cross officials work to deliver food supplies in a flooded community. (Photo courtesy IFRC)
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The American Red Cross is supporting Langdon Greenhalgh, team leader for relief efforts of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation) in Niger. Greenhalgh left the U.S. for Niger on July 17th, and will be in country until Sept. 1 directing the Red Cross response effort.
“Things are progressing rapidly so it’s always good to be a part a program like this,” Greenhalgh said from Federation headquarters in Niamey, Niger’s capital. He was the first Federation official in the region, and to date he and a team of about 25 international delegates from the Red Cross have set up operations in four countries—Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania.
The Red Cross effort is being supported by Movement partners providing everything from delegates to run the operation, to the delivery of 20 trucks from the Norwegian Red Cross to help with food distribution.
“This is basically a slow onset emergency, but we are using emergency tools to respond,” said Greenhalgh. “The international community is here and we are responding as fast as we can.”
Red Cross teams are operating supplementary feeding centers in four major locations in Niger to target 23,000 children under the age of five who are considered most at risk. They will also begin large-scale food distributions to help hundreds of thousands of individuals and families as soon as delivery operations are in place.
Children line up for food at a Niger Red Cross distribution center. (Photo courtesy IFRC)
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The Red Cross has three main priorities in the area according to Greenhalgh: providing enriched food to children under five, who are considered the most vulnerable to famine; delivering bulk food distributions to the general population; and distributing cash vouchers to help families to provide for themselves.
“Believe it or not, there are small quantities of food available on the market, but the problem is that the prices have gone so high that no one can purchase them with the little resources they have. People have lost a lot of their purchasing power, so the idea is to give these people the capacity to buy what they need on the local market.”
The Red Cross is just one of many relief agencies responding to the call for relief in Niger.
“There is international assistance coming in from all locations,” said Greenhalgh. “The United Nations World Food Program is the main provider of bulk food in this type of situation, and other groups are bringing in food from regional locations or flying it in.”
Greenhalgh is hopeful that the situation will improve by the end of September or October, when the next harvest is expected.
“Based on the rainfall thus far the indications are that things will get better, but if it doesn’t then we may have a much worse situation on our hands,” he said.
You can help the victims of countless crises around the world each year, crises like the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake, by making a financial gift to the American Red Cross International Response Fund, which will provide immediate relief and long-term support through supplies, technical assistance and other support to help those in need. The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or 1-800-257-7575 (Spanish), or mailing your donation with the designation to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013 or to your local American Red Cross chapter. Internet users can make a secure online contribution by visiting www.redcross.org.
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