Chad
- 37.8%
- of children under 5 are stunted
- 2.1 million
- people expected to be severely food insecure during the 2022 lean season
- 570,000
- refugees
Chad is a landlocked Sahelian country in central Africa, with one of the highest levels of hunger in the world - 42 percent of its population live below the poverty line. A low-income country with limited income-generating opportunities, and restricted access to social services, it is ranked 187th out of 189 countries in the 2020 Human Development Index.
Regional conflicts, in combination with environmental degradation, rapid desertification and intercommunal tension over diminishing natural resources, have contributed to exacerbate hunger and poverty in the country. The people in Chad are among the most affected by the global climate breakdown. The negative effects of COVID-19 on socio-economic activities further accentuate the state of poverty of an already chronically vulnerable population.
Many depend on farming and livestock for their livelihoods, but advancing agricultural practices is challenging as rain patterns are changing and droughts are frequent. This places even more strain on vulnerable families living in the Sahelian belt. Around 37.8 percent of children aged under 5 suffer from stunting, according to the Global Nutrition Report, with low height for their age caused by chronic malnutrition. The health of pregnant and breastfeeding women is poor, with high maternal mortality rates due to inadequate access to health services. Access to basic education is also limited.
Chad hosts one of the largest number of refugees in the region, and one million people are in a situation of forced displacement in the country; these include 570,000 refugees, 406,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) around Lake Chad, as well as 107,000 Chadian returnees. The recent influx of refugees who have fled conflict in Cameroon has put additional pressure on Chad’s already limited resources.
What the World Food Programme is doing in Chad
-
Food assistance
-
WFP is aiming to support approximately 3 million vulnerable people affected by chronic food insecurity and climate-related disasters in 2022. WFP provides cash-based transfers to enable vulnerable internally displaced people to buy food from local markets, boosting the economy. We provide food to refugees, returnees and vulnerable local communities during the lean season.
-
Support for refugees, IDPs and host communities
-
WFP provides life-saving food and nutritional assistance to over 530,000 refugees from Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria and Cameroon, and 230,000 displaced persons in the Lake province. In support of the government’s National Response Plan for the lean season, WFP is aiming to assist 1,061,040 people in the Sahelian belt from June to September 2022. 102,000 Chadians, who fled violence in CAR in 2013, still live in transit sites and host villages in the South of Chad.
-
Nutrition
-
WFP supports the Ministry of Health in the coordination of nutrition activities and the implementation of moderate acute malnutrition health care. We provide nutrition support to babies aged 6 months to 2 years to prevent malnutrition, children under 5 to treat malnutrition, with pregnant and breastfeeding women also receiving nutritional support. In 2021, WFP reached 458,000 children and 235,400 pregnant and nursing women with specialised nutritious foods to prevent or treat acute malnutrition or address vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
-
School meals
-
WFP supports the Ministry of Education, regional and local educational authorities, schools, and communities with technical assistance and provides school meals to preschools and primary schools as well as assistance to adolescent girls to increase attendance rates. WFP provides nutritious school meals to children in food insecure areas of the Sahel, where food production is poor even in relatively good years. School meals encourage school enrolment, which is low in these regions. We also provide an emergency school meal programme in the Lake Chad region. In 2021, WFP school meals reached a total of 200,000 school children.
-
Resilience
-
WFP has continued to scale up the integrated resilience programme and reached nearly 486,000 people in more than 211 villages across the Sahel, who benefitted from asset creation activities. Since the beginning of the scale-up in 2018, together with the communities and partners, WFP has rehabilitated nearly 2,600 hectares of degraded land and created some 385 hectares of gardens – the equivalent of almost 4,200 football fields - to produce fresh vegetables and fruits.
-
UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS)
-
WFP manages the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) on behalf of the humanitarian community in Chad, with 21 destinations throughout the country served by four aircraft carrying personnel and light cargo. UNHAS is a critical enabler of humanitarian and development assistance in Chad. Its network is strategically structured to provide maximum coverage of the country’s large land surface. In 2021, a total of 105 humanitarian organizations and 10,600 passengers relied on UNHAS to carry out their vital work in Chad.
Chad news releases
Go to pagePartners and donors
Achieving Zero Hunger is the work of many. Our work in Chad is made possible by the support and collaboration of our partners and donors, including:
United States (Food for Peace, OFDA, PRM)
European Union (ECHO, DEVCO)
Germany (BMZ, GFFO)
United Kingdom
Japan
View all
Find out more about the state of food security in Chad
Visit the food security analysis pageContacts
Office
BP 6308, Programme Alimentaire Mondial, Quartier Béguinage, îlot Q, lot 2, TF n° 1159, croisement de l’avenue Galmai Youssoubomi
N'Djamena
Chad
Phone
+235 66992001 / 66992002
Fax
+235 51 56 05