UNICEF calls for action in West Africa

UNICEF is acting early to prevent food shortages in parts of West Africa turning into a children’s famine.

Poor harvests are putting the lives of over a million children at risk across the region. But UNICEF is already ordering and distributing therapeutic foods and emergency stocks to meet children’s needs.

In Niger, more than 300,000 children under five are at risk of severe or acute malnutrition. The government has issued an alert saying that more than half the country’s villages are vulnerable because crops have failed this year.

Other countries and regions where children are expected to need specialist treatment are Chad, northern Nigeria, the north of Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Mali, Mauritania and northern Senegal.

UNICEF urgently needs an initial $65.7 million (£42 million) for nutrition, healthcare and supplies.

“This children’s crisis is going to be immensely challenging”, said David Gressly, UNICEF’s Regional Director for West and Central Africa.

“We do not issue such warnings lightly, but the scale demands an appropriate response that needs to start now.”

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