The Evangelical Alliance Relief Fund
February 23, 2012
TEAR Fund, along with other concerned New Zealand Humanitarian agencies, is urging the New Zealand Government to take
early action on the unfolding food crisis the West Africa’s Sahel region which could see seven to 10 million people
starving within a matter of months.
TEAR Fund executive director Steve Tollestrup said, “We have seen in the Horn of Africa what can happen when
international donors and governments ignore the early-warning signs of impending famines. The Sahel is a chance to
redeem ourselves and not allow innocent people to die needlessly and suffer the hard lessons learnt in the Horn of
Africa.”
He said, “To act now will not only save lives, but reduce the cost of meeting the needs of those struggling to feed
themselves. If we acted early in the Horn of Africa, the cost of the emergency would have been in the region of US$500m.
Instead, the cost escalated to be more than US$2.4bn.
“The cost of preventing malnutrition in children is about US$1 per child; whereas the cost of treating a child suffering
from malnutrition is US$80 per child. We simply can’t afford a repeat of the Horn of Africa. Acting early is an
effective use of aid funds and something that the government and our supporters expect of us, but we need the funds now
to deliver on this.”
The Sahel region stretches across West Africa along the Sahara desert and includes countries such as Niger, Nigeria,
Mali, Burkino Faso and Chad.
TEAR Fund is supporting food relief projects in Niger where it has been working with Nomadic herdsmen and their families
but much more is needed. The people of Niger are highly vulnerable having suffered a famine in 2005 and severe drought
in 2010 from which they haven’t recovered. There is a high level of underlying child malnutrition already and the
situation has not reached its peak yet, said Mr Tollestrup. “We, therefore, call on our government to consider funding
humanitarian programmes attempting to address food insecurity before the Sahel becomes another casualty of inaction.”
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TEAR Fund NZ is a Christian aid and development organisation which works in close partnership with indigenous non-government
organisations and churches in Asia, Africa, Central and South America. TEAR Fund actively changes the lives of the poor
and oppressed through disaster relief, community development, Microenterprise, and child sponsorship. In NZ since 1975,
TEAR Fund is a member of the Council for International Development, the NZ Disaster Relief Forum and has representation
on the Government’s project funding allocation committee.
ENDS