In Niger in 2010, 7 million people - of which 2.5 million were children - were affected by a serious food crisis as a result of poor rains. Clinics across the country overflowed with hundreds of thousands of children suffering from severe and moderate malnutrition. Here a woman receives medical care for her child in a paediatric hospital for severely malnourished children in Dakoro in Niger.
© UNICEF/Niger2010/Marco Di Lauro
Nigerien women lie on beds with their malnourished children at a paediatric hospital in Madarounfa in Niger. UNICEF is working in Niger to provide therapeutic food and medicines for children with malnutrition.
© UNICEF/Niger2010/Marco Di Lauro
A malnourished child with his mother at a paediatric hospital for severely malnourished children in Madarounfa in Niger.
© UNICEF/Niger2010/Marco Di Lauro
A woman weighs a child during a session on essential family practice to prevent malnutrition in the village of Bouzei in Niger. The session is delivered by villagers trained by UNICEF at a community level.
© UNICEF/Niger2010/Marco Di Lauro
In Sierra Leone, a quarter of children under the age of five are underweight. Many health clinics lack supplies and skilled personnel, and many people simply cannot afford basic health services. UNICEF is supporting the abolition of fees for primary health services to children under the age of five, as well as building clinics and providing essential supplies to tackle malnutrition, such as therapeutic food. Here, one-year-old Nuah, who is suffering from malaria and malnutrition, sits on his mother's lap at a health unit in the village of Kaniya in Sierra Leone.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-1023/Olivier Asselin
Nimatu, 6, lies on a bed in a paediatric ward in Bo, Sierra Leone. Her mother died several years ago, and she is now in the care of her sister. She weighs only 10 kilograms.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0647/Olivier Asselin
Sampa holds her malnourished 17-month-old son, Abdul, in a recovery area for malnourished children at a hospital in Magburaka, Sierra Leone. Her daughter sits beside them.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0634/Olivier Asselin
Ruggie feeds her malnourished nine-month-old child, Alimamy, a ready-to-use therapeutic food in a recovery area for malnourished children at a hospital in Magburaka, Sierra Leone. Ruggie has five children, one of whom died of malnutrition.
© UNICEF/NYHQ2010-0633/Olivier Asselin
