EU provides €1.3mn to WFP to prevent malnutrition in Sahrawi refugees in Algeria

The European Union has recently given 1.3 million euros to the United Nations World Food Programme with an objective to treat and prevent malnutrition among Sahrawi refugee children and women in five camps located around Tindouf in Algeria.

The European Union's (EU) support to the UN World Food Programme's (WFP) nutrition activities comes at a vital moment. The latest joint WFP-UNHCR nutrition survey found that global acute malnutrition rates among Sahrawi refugee children under five reached 7.6 percent in 2019 compared to 4.7 percent in 2016. Moreover, half of children under five and half of women aged 15 to 49 suffer from anaemia.

"The increasing malnutrition trend in the Sahrawi refugee camps is worrying, as it can lead to more deaths and disease. With this new grant to WFP, the EU wants to make sure that refugee children and mothers are helped and spared unnecessary suffering. Sahrawi refugee families can continue to rely on the EU for vital humanitarian support," said the EU Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid's Head of Office in Algeria Patrick Barbier.

"WFP is grateful for the EU's generous contribution to our nutrition programmes which were chronically underfunded in the past. We need regular and predictable funding to treat and prevent malnutrition in the Tindouf refugee camps," the WFP Representative and Country Director in Algeria Imed Khanfir cited.

The new EU funds will allow WFP to provide women and children with special nutrition products to treat and prevent malnutrition over the next 18 months. It will also enable activities promoting healthy eating through increased nutrition education. This funding comes in addition to a 4 million euros EU contribution provided earlier this year to cover basic food needs of thousands of Sahrawi refugee families. The EU is the largest donor to WFP's work supporting Sahrawi refugees in Algeria, covering 30 percent of the 2019 funding requirements for this operation.