More than 18 million people in West Africa’s Sahel region don’t have enough food.

A bad harvest last year and high food prices have caused a widespread food crisis across Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Chad, Senegal, parts of Nigeria and Gambia.

Caritas has been warning since the start of the year that urgent action needed to be taken to save lives and safeguard future development.

Now is the critical moment with food stores all but gone and people worn down by months of having nothing to eat. Caritas reports on the situation in Niger, one of the countries that is worst affected by the lack of food.

Niger fights off food crisis Caritas has set up a range of programmes in Niger and across the Sahel to enable people to feed themselves while strengthening their ability to address the causes of cyclical food crises. These include programmes such as ‘food for work’,	Niger’s poor share last food with Malian refugees There are over 150,000 Malians forced from their homes but still inside the country, of which two-thirds are in the north of the country. They have little or no access to international aid. 200,000 Malians have fled to nearby countries, including 40,000 in Niger.
A last line of defence against child malnutrition in Niger Niger has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. More than 140,000 children die each year from causes related to poverty and malnutrition.	Caritas emergency appeals for West Africa Interactive map on  summaries of Caritas emergency appeals for Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Chad and Mauritania..
Photo gallery: Niger, June 2012 See photos of Caritas Communication Officer,Ryan Worms who visited Northern Niger to see the situation of the area where they must now host thousands of Malian refugees.