World Vision responds to refugees fleeing violence in Mali

NIAMEY, Niger, 29 February 2012—The insecurity in Mali has World Vision aid workers concerned about the effects of the conflict on both the refugees and families currently living along the border in "host communities." In preliminary surveys, World Vision staff has already seen some villages in Niger swell from a population of 1,000 to 7,000 or more.

“This new wave of refugees is straining communities which are already very fragile in this worsening food crisis,” said Esperance Klugan, national director of World Vision in Niger. “Right now, many villagers are unable to afford even one meal a day for their families."

In Niger, the government estimates at least nine million people remain vulnerable to the hunger crisis; approximately 3.7 million people are in need of immediate assistance. Many households have little to no remaining supplies to feed their families and are using harsh coping mechanisms like spacing out their meals, selling the few livestock they have left, and sending family members into other cities or even outside the country to find work.

World Vision is sending a team of emergency responders to the border this week and will begin scaling up its response in the coming days to help prevent this latest migration from expanding into a wider humanitarian crisis.

• Providing more than 240,000 sachets of P&G Purifier of Water packets
• Contributing vital medicines
• Leading efforts to improve hygiene and provide access to clean water by drilling 3 boreholes and constructing latrines for 50 households

• Prioritized and expanded life-saving nutrition programs for children
• Supported free food distribution to low-income families
• Vaccinated livestock to protect them from disease and preserve families’ livelihood
• Distributed seeds to farmers
• Drilled additional wells to increase access to clean, safe water

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