IRIN examines efforts against malnutrition amid increasing food insecurity in Chad

IRIN examines efforts to tackle malnutrition amid increased food insecurity in Chad. "Like in the rest of the Sahel region, a mix of drought, poor rains and harvests as well as rising food prices have resulted in food insecurity and subsequent malnutrition," the news service writes, noting, "Chad's 'embryonic' economy is among factors limiting the local diversity of food sources and income, notes USAID's Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), adding that sociocultural care practices and poor health systems are also to blame."

"In May, at least 2.4 million people, mainly in Chad's central agro-pastoral zones of Guera, Kanem, Bahr-el-Ghazal, Batha, and Sila were classified as being in the 'stressed' food insecurity phase, with the lean season having started two months earlier than usual," the news service reports, adding, "Under the 'stressed' phase, household food consumption is reduced but minimally adequate without having to engage in irreversible coping strategies." IRIN highlights the efforts of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP), and Oxfam to combat malnutrition in the country and discusses logistical challenges to these efforts (6/26).