SEATTLE, Washington — Cameroon is a West African country with little conflict and a stable political environment. Despite this, it faces regionally specific hunger and poverty issues. The rural northern and eastern regions are disproportionately impacted due to various reasons. Increasing floods, droughts, land degradation, poor agricultural practices, harvest losses and poor road structures, are all
culminating factors contributing to food insecurity and hunger in Cameroon. Statistics from USAID indicate that approximately
2.6 million people in Cameroon face acute food insecurity. Unfortunately, hunger in Cameroon during COVID-19 has only been exacerbated.
Food Insecurity in Cameroon
These already worn communities are being strained further due to the growing number of refugees and internally displaced populations (IDPs). The north is seeing an influx of refugees fleeing conflict in Nigeria and the Central African Republic. Violence from the militant Islamic group, Boko Haram, is increasing the number of IDPs.
Climate, lack of development, and displacement of peoples all resulted in a 6% increase in the food-insecure population in just one year from 2015 to 2016. The COVID-19 pandemic has made these statistics no better.
Impact of COVID-19 on Hunger
Globally, there are profound concerns about the impact COVID-19 has on food security and this extends to Cameroon. Arif Husain, director of research and monitoring for the World Food Programme (WFP), outlines the gravity of this situation and the specific
challenges COVID-19 brings.
According to Husain, the past four years have been bad in terms of food security. In 2016, global acute hunger reached 80 million. By the end of 2019, that number increased to 135 million. The WFP projects that by the end of 2020, that number will be 265 million. In short, COVID-19 has made “an already bad situation catastrophically bad.”
Global hunger stems from a lack of access to food, not a lack of availability. Husain explains that in the past, there had been global crises, such as the food-and-fuel crisis in 2008 or financial crises. However, in the past, these have only caused a lack of access from either the demand side or the supply side. COVID-19 is unprecedented because it’s impacting both the demand and supply. The supply side has been particularly hard hit, meaning that food produced in one place cannot get where it’s needed. COVID-19 is not only causing physical inaccessibility but also economical, due to job loss and the inability to purchase food items.
As of
June 2020, COVID-19 cases in Cameroon were over 12,500. The presence of COVID-19 as well as the previous factors that have been impacting hunger in Cameroon are creating a critical situation. The government has been
implementing policies such as border closures, social distancing, closing schools, encouraging only essential travel, washing hands and wearing masks. While these are in place to protect citizens, they also impact access to food.
As lockdowns and social distancing continue, people are losing their jobs, farmers are unable to harvest their crops and markets to sell goods are disappearing. People have little means to make an income, making purchasing food impossible and thus increasing the state of hunger in Cameroon.
The World Food Programme
Fortunately, the WFP has programs in place to help mitigate this increasing problem. One of the programs started in Cameroon is handing out take-home rations from schools to ensure that children are getting fed at home. Originally, schools would cook meals from the food provided by the WFP and feed children during the school day. However, since schools were closed due to COVID-19, they’ve begun handing out dry rations consisting of rice, pulses, salt and vegetable oil.
The WFP also provides training on managing inventory for the food stocks to make them as useful as possible. Gloves and handwashing stations are also being made available at the schools. Furthermore, this initiative provides school teachers with a platform to educate parents and children about safe practices during COVID-19.
COVID-19 is presenting new and extensive challenges to food security around the world. Fortunately, organizations like the WFP are committing to helping and uplifting populations during the world’s greatest time of need.
– Paige Wallace
Photo: Flickr
