In the past few hours, the media reported on a military coup and the arrest of President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, episodes that are part of a context of crisis and violence
Anti-government demonstrations, civil society protests, street clashes and finally the coup a few days ago. Burkina Faso has been in chaos for weeks. The social tensions and continuing unrest have their origin in the strong general insecurity caused by the presence of jihadist groups that for years have been undermining the stability of the entire Sahel area (which also includes neighbouring Mali and Niger), in addition to the poor living conditions of the population, which is now exhausted.
The humanitarian crisis in Burkina Faso
Burkina Faso is a very vulnerable country in terms of the security and livelihood of its population. Out of 21 million people, 3.5 million are in need of assistance and more than 2 million are in food insecurity. Among these, 632,000 are malnourished children and 128,000 are pregnant or lactating women who do not reach the minimum level of nutritional needs[1]. The country is among the poorest in the world, with 40% of the population below the poverty line[2].
The escape of many people from their places of origin is one of the main consequences of territorial insecurity. In the Centre-North region, more than 62,000 people have been newly displaced since 21st November 2021, and around 11,700 people fled violent attacks between 4th and 20th December. These numbers, added to the previous ones, bring the total number of displaced persons in the country to around 1.5 million, of whom 870,000 are minors[3].
Malnutrition in Burkina Faso
With the persistence of the humanitarian crisis in the country, INTERSOS has launched, since 2019, projects of psychosocial and legal assistance, and distribution of essential goods for displaced people in the North, East, Boucle du Mouhoun and Central Plateau regions. The famine spreading throughout the territory has highlighted the need to activate projects to combat food insecurity and malnutrition, through the provision of nutritional therapies. Moderate acute malnutrition, severe acute malnutrition: there are various forms of malnutrition that our staff is currently treating, especially among women and children, who suffer from insufficient access to food. We have monitored and treated 304 malnourished pregnant and lactating women with nutritional therapies, and 1,214 children from 0 to 59 months.
[1] https://reliefweb.int/country/bfa#key-figures
[2] https://www.indexmundi.com/g/g.aspx?c=uv&v=69&l=it
[3] https://reliefweb.int/report/burkina-faso/burkina-faso-mise-jour-clair-d-placements-au-centre-nord-4-janvier-2022