Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on food security among East and West African pastoralists

The focus of attention regarding the impacts COVID-19 pandemic has been on direct health outcomes and macroeconomic control measures. Here we review available evidence about food security pastoralists in Eastern Western Africa. While pastoralism occurs more than 50% world's land area, landscapes that exploit tend to be remote highly variable arid semi-arid lands with low population densities. Over time have developed sophisticated mechanisms enhance their self-sufficiency. At same time, remoteness sociopolitical marginalization resulted higher rates insecurity underdevelopment among relative sedentary populations. These dynamics intractable standardized security, malnutrition, economic development interventions. is contributing a worsening trends pastoralist areas East West Africa due multiplicity factors, including closure livestock markets, movement restrictions, disruptions supply chains production inputs, reduced frequency quality human animal healthcare delivery, lost income from complementary livelihoods. It opens, however, space for innovations may contribute food-secure future pastoralism, adapting One Health approach addresses social, economic, environmental determinants African pastoralists.