Chad is a country located in Africa where there is a growing need to reduce chronic hunger.

Here are some facts outlining the severity of hunger in Chad:

• 87 percent of Chad’s rural population lives below the poverty line.
• More than 2.4 million rural Chadians are food insecure.
• Of the 2.4 million food insecure rural Chadians, 428,000 are classified as severely. food insecure.
• 11.7 percent of children under the age of five are stunted due to chronic malnutrition.

Hunger in Chad is exacerbated by the country’s geographical location, climate, susceptibility to political instability and vulnerability to natural disasters.

Action Against Hunger is looking to reduce the effects of hunger by improving agricultural production, jumpstarting local business markets and enhancing access to sustainable sources of income and food in Chad. In 2015, the foundation helped 413,325 Chadians receive nutritional support.

Similarly, the World Food Programme (WFP) is working to eliminate hunger in Chad with four different operations:

1. Development operations look to help the hungry feed themselves.
2. Emergency operations help provide food for the impoverished while improving nutrition.
3. Relief and recovery operations assist in stabilizing food security after emergencies.
4. Special operations help to create specific logistics and infrastructure work to improve the movement of food aid.

Specifically, the WFP looks to provide 120,000 meals in prioritized areas where chronic hunger is prevalent. In addition, 15,000 meals are being provided to the Lake Chad region.

Chad’s chronic hunger situation continues to improve with the help of foundations like Action Against Hunger and the World Food Programme. There are some factors that these foundations cannot affect (like climate and geography), but the programs are doing all they can to make sure the country of Chad is in the best position possible in order to succeed.

– Casey Marx

Photo: Flickr