While massive crises such as that in Sudan's Darfur region attract media and donor attention, the grinding poverty that is a fact of daily life for many in Africa's poorest countries goes largely unnoticed.
The Sahel -- a band of arid savannah which stretches across the southern fringe of the Sahara -- suffers from perpetual food insecurity and last-minute emergency aid only helps alleviate the problem in the short term.
Longer-term commitments from donor nations are harder to secure, particularly in the case of what aid workers call "silent crises" such as that in the Sahel, where there is no constant diet of shocking images to prick donor consciences.
"We can't expect immediate results," said Herve Ludovic de Lys, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in West Africa. "The projects that need to be put in place to correct the structural causes (of this crisis) will take years. But in the meantime, we have an obligation to save lives," he said.
Source: Reuters
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