A combination of protracted armed conflict, internal displacement, and restricted humanitarian access risks pushing nearly one million children under the age of five in Mali into acute malnutrition by December 2023 – with at least 200,000 at risk of dying of hunger if life-saving aid fails to reach them, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) warned in a joined statement Friday.
Almost a quarter of Mali's population suffers from moderate or acute food insecurity. Some 1.2 million people across Mali are facing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity during the June-August 2023 lean season, when food is most scarce. For the first time ever in the country, over 2,500 people are at risk of famine in the crisis-affected region of Menaka, many of them children.
The UN agencies' warning comes as senior humanitarian officials from UNICEF and WFP visited the Central Sahel country this week to reiterate the support from both agencies to Mali’s people, in cooperation with local authorities and humanitarian partner organizations.
"Mali is going through a complex humanitarian crisis and needs urgent support to avert a disaster for children, who are again paying the highest price for a crisis not of their making," said Ted Chaiban, UNICEF Deputy Executive Director for Humanitarian Action, and Supply Operations.
“UNICEF, WFP and partners have been present on the ground during some of Mali’s hardest years, and we will continue to work on humanitarian and development issues for as long as our services are needed.”
In total, close to 5 million children are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance in Mali, including health, nutrition, education, and protection services - as well as access to safe water. The number shows an increase of at least 1.5 million children in need since 2020.
“It is of the utmost importance that we ensure the humanitarian crisis in Mali has the attention it needs. At a time when the world is in turmoil, we do not have the right to choose who to save. But we do have a duty to work together to save and change lives,” said Carl Skau, WFP’s Deputy Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer.
"We must do what we can to help vulnerable families, especially children and women, by working closely with our partners to prevent famine, tackle acute food insecurity and malnutrition head-on and strengthen their resilience."
In addition to violence and conflict, climate shocks in some parts of the country have led to massive displacement in the last few months. As of 31 July 2023, over 370,000 people have been forced to flee their homes, more than half of them children. According to latest estimates, at least 1.6 million children are in urgent need of protection in Mali.
In 2022, the United Nations verified 1,024 grave violations against children in the country, including recruitment and use by armed forces and armed groups, killing and maiming. Conflict and lack of resources have also forced more than 1,700 schools to close, keeping at least half a million children from accessing education.
Both UN agencies urgently need US $184.4 million to reach 8.8 million people in 2023, including 4.7 million children. Funding will be essential to provide emergency food assistance to vulnerable people and support medical services, including fuel to keep vaccines cold and to buy more humanitarian supplies such as life-saving treatments for children with malnutrition, they said.
The plight of children and families in Mali is part of a wider regional emergency in the Central Sahel, which also includes Burkina Faso and Niger.
According to UNICEF and WFP, despite these ongoing crises, humanitarian workers and supplies need to safely reach the most vulnerable children and families where urgently needed. Any disruptions or delays in aid delivery will have a negative impact on the survival of children and their families.
Mali is a landlocked country in the Central Sahel region, with nearly half of the highly dispersed population living in extreme poverty. The country ranks at the bottom of the Human Development Index (HDI). Since 2012, conflict, insecurity, and climatic shocks - including drought and seasonal floods - have generated displacement, food insecurity, and widespread humanitarian needs throughout Mali.
Since 2022, hostilities have intensified across the country after Malian forces launched large-scale operations against Jamaa Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), which is affiliated with al-Qaeda, and the rival Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS). Both Islamist non-state armed groups (NSAGs) have frequently carried out attacks on civilian populations.
An estimated 8.8 million people in the country require humanitarian assistance this year. Among them are 4.7 million children.
Approximately 376,000 people are currently internally displaced in Mali. In addition, the Central Sahel state hosts more than 64,000 refugees, the majority of whom fled insecurity in bordering countries. Some 200,000 Malian refugees are hosted in neighboring states, including Mauritania, Niger, and Burkina Faso. The international humanitarian organization Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has identified the situation in Mali, as one of the most neglected displacement crises globally.
Despite the urgent situation, humanitarian appeals for Mali continue to be severely underfunded. So far in 2023, just 21 percent of the US $751.4 million required by the United Nations Humanitarian Response Plan for Mali has been raised.
Further information
Full text: Nearly one million children in Mali at risk of acute malnutrition by the end of 2023 – UNICEF-WFP, UNICEF and WFP, joint press release, published September 1, 2023
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nearly-one-million-children-mali-risk-acute-malnutrition-end-2023-unicef-wfp