The World Food Program (WFP) warns that the number of people on the verge of famine in Africa's Sahel area is 10 times more than it was in 2019, while the number of persons displaced has increased 400%.

The Sahel region, which includes Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger and extends south of the Sahara desert, is now experiencing some of the driest conditions in years.

In the five nations, hunger is predicted to afflict 10.5 million people this year, with over a million on the verge of starving.

“An absolute crisis is unfolding before our eyes,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley on a visit to Benin, having inspected WFP operations in Niger and Chad.

“I’ve been talking with families who have been through more than you can imagine. They´ve been chased from their homes by extremist groups, starved by drought, and plunged into despair by Covid-19’s economic ripple effects,” he said.

Beasley added, “We’re running out of money, and these people are running out of hope.”

This is an increase from 3.6 million in 2019, which included 141,000 individuals on the verge of famine. The present crisis is likely to outperform prior years' owing to a combination of causes such as insecurity, increased poverty as a result of the coronavirus epidemic, and huge rises in the cost of essential items.