Right now, children across Africa are facing hunger and starvation. In Niger and across West Africa, over a million children need to be treated for life-threatening malnutrition or the region will face a dire emergency.
Poor harvests are putting the lives of many hundreds of thousands of children and families at risk across the Sahel region of West and Central Africa.
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.
Donate to our Children's Emergency Fund now.
This winter, droughts and rising food prices in West Africa have put more than a million children at risk of starvation. Right now, the countries of West Africa have among the highest mortality rates in the world. One in five children die before the age of five.
To prevent a wide-scale emergency, UNICEF and its partners are beginning to send life-sustaining supplies to the region before it is too late.
Just €5 will help UNICEF feed a malnourished child for a week. Please donate to our emergency work for children today.
Related News Items
-
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow's visit to a therapeutic feeding centre in Chad. This year, an estimated 1 million children under age 5 are expected to suffer severe acute malnutrition – a potentially deadly condition. In Chad alone, that number is 127,000.
-
Monday, February 13, 2012
More than one million children are in danger of becoming severely malnourished in the Sahel region of Africa.
-
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Agency prepares for major malnutrition intervention across eight countries in 2012