Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what (a) estimate she has made of the number of people at risk of food insecurity (i) in the Central Sahel region and (ii) across West Africa during (A) the 2021 lean season and (B) the 2022 lean season, and (b) steps she is taking to ensure that adequate nutritional support will be available during the 2022 lean season.

According to the Cadre Harmonise, which analyses current and projected food and nutrition situations across West Africa, over 8.1 million people in the Central Sahel are expected to face severe food insecurity during the 2022 lean season. This is a 25% increase compared to 2021. Across West Africa the Cadre Harmonise estimates that 35.8 million people are expected to face severe food insecurity during the 2022 lean season, a 23% increase compared to 2021.

The UK is a major humanitarian donor in the region and continues to support the humanitarian response in the Sahel and West Africa. We are working with partners to address urgent food insecurity, respond to severe acute malnutrition, and provide basic life-saving assistance to conflict-affected people. Examples of UK support include: contributing towards feeding 1.7 million people in Nigeria, providing 400,000 children and 84,000 pregnant and lactating women in Nigeria with nutrition support in 2021; providing life-saving assistance to 10.5 million people across the G5 Sahel since (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Niger, and Mauritania) since 2019; and providing humanitarian assistance including nutrition services and health treatment for children in Cameroon.