The dual-rotor helicopter touching down on Fada N'gourma's dusty airstrip is a game changer for the hungry communities in eastern Burkina Faso.
"Flying to transport food to those who need it is the most fulfilling mission I have ever done," said UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) pilot Christine Brown about her job delivering World Food Programme (WFP) support, along with humanitarian workers, to some of Burkina Faso's most remote, food-insecure and conflict-torn hotspots.
"It is heartbreaking to see all the kids out there and to know what they are going through."
The West African country faces insecurity and widespread humanitarian needs, making the role of such airlifts crucial to reaching places that are too dangerous to access by road.
"Without these airlifts, many of these communities would have no other means to survive," said Elvira Pruscini, WFP's Representative and Country Director in Burkina Faso.
"We are literally a lifeline for tens of thousands of people every month, ensuring the timely delivery of life-saving food and nutrition assistance to the hardest-to-reach areas."
Malnutrition
On any given day, pilots like Ms. Brown transport roughly six metric tons of food - the weight equivalent of an African elephant - to northern and eastern Burkina Faso, where hunger numbers are the most alarming.
The airlifted goods account for one-sixth of total monthly food and nutritional assistance that WFP delivers to food-insecure communities countrywide and reached more than half a million people in 2023.
Among those assisted by the airlifts are young children and pregnant and breastfeeding women and girls, who are often the most vulnerable to malnutrition, which soars beyond emergency levels in some places.
Climate change and desertification, alongside rising armed conflict, have intensified levels of hunger. More than 2 million people are internally displaced and some 2.7 million face acute food insecurity.
"Without the assistance of WFP, we wouldn't have anything to eat," says Zourata, a mother of six who lives in the northern town of Titao surrounded by armed groups with no way to cultivate the land.
Roster of women
While Ms. Brown was the only female UNHAS pilot in Burkina Faso when she began early last year, today she is part of a growing roster of women for the organization, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.
"The women who work for us are a talented, dedicated and vital part of the UNHAS team," says WFP's Chief of Aviation, Franklyn Frimpong. "They accomplish extraordinary things in some of the most difficult parts of the world."
For Ms. Brown, however, being a successful pilot has nothing to do with gender.
"Flying is a human skill," she says. "We all have the same arms and legs. For me, I go to work, and I do the best I can."
"Everyone works hard and we all work together as a team," she emphasised.
UNHAS Fact Box
- UNHAS serves multiple destinations through 17 operations globally linking 20 countries.
- Managed by the WFP, UNHAS offers passenger and light cargo transport for the wider humanitarian community to and from hard-to-reach crisis areas.
- In 2023, WFP airlifts provided roughly 11,500 tons of food and assistance to more than half a million people in cutoff towns across Burkina Faso.
- UNHAS's work in Burkina Faso has been supported largely by the European Union, Luxembourg, Switzerland and the United States.
